
Pfass. 
Book_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



T^f Complete 



History of the 

City of 




"PhT?. PriOTo£(70. C o 



GOOD GOODS AT MODERATE PRSCE8, 

A MOTTO ALWAYS OBSERVED AT 

HOPPER BROS. &CO.'S 

THE ONLY HOUSE IN THE CITY "WHERE A COMPLETE LINE OF HOUSE- 
FURNISHING GOODS CAN BE HAD. 

Fine, Common and Medium FURNITURE, 

IN BED ROOM SUITS. 

MEDIUM AND FINE PARLOR SUITS, (onr own make.) 

BEST SELECTION OF 

CARPETS, . RUQS « AND . CURTAINS 

IN THE CITY. 

We keep in stock everything that goes to the proper furnishing 
of a comfortable home. 

PIOarEERS OF I.OW PRICES. 

HOPPER BROS. & CO., 

307 WOOD STREET, 

— ==~ - PITTSBURGH, PA. 



B. & B. 



IMPOI^IFBI^S. 



(SOBBBI^S. 



^ I^BIIAILEI^S. % 

Fine Dp^ l|ood?, $\\\t, 



VELVETS, WRAPS, SUITS, 



LACES, 



HOSIERY, 



GLOVES. 



Everything pertaining to a modern 19th Centnry 
Dry Goods store, Medium to finest and best quali- 
ties at lowest prices consistent with satisfactory trad- 
ing between buyer and seller. 

KUR DEPARTMENT. 



Large and complete stock i 

Finest Alaska London 

Seal Coats, Jackets 

and Wraps a Specialty, 

AT MODERATE PRICES. 

Se al Skin Carments taken on Storage, guaranteed 
acfainst Fire or Moths. 



BOGGS & BXJflL, 

115, 117, 119 «& 131 Federal St. 

ALLEGHENY, PA. 



W]VI. FliflCCUS & SOJl, 

IDashington Tannery. 

DIAMOND BRAND OAK 

Harness and Skirting Leather. 

164 to 176 

Spring fiarden ]|veDue, Sllegbeny, Pa. 

MANUFACTURERS' AGE.VTS AND WHOLESALB 
DKALERS IN 

$UB^, (Juried Hair i]\lEat'^ Foot Oil. 



MAXUFACTCRERS OF 



Blacksmiths' Bellows and Agnews' Patent 

Nozzle Bellows, for Oil and Gas 

Well Drillers. 

OFFICE AND F.-ICTORY: 

//2S a/id //SO Tenn Ave., 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 



SMITH BROS. & CO., 

La Belle Steel Works 

RIDGE AVENUE AND BELMONT STREET, 

Post Office Address, Pittsburgh, Pa. ALLEGHENY CITY PA. 



lIAXri"ACTrRHRS OI- ALL KINDS Ol' 



STEEL SPRINGS, AXLES, RAKE TEETH, ETC. 



WETHERELL BROS , Eastern Representatives, 31 Oliver St., Boston, 
and 93 Liberty St., N. Y. 



C. E.JAMES & CO., Chattanooga, Tenn. 



RICE, LEWIS & SON, Toronto, Ont. 



PATENT FLEXIBLE BACK 

Blank Books. 

Opens flat at any part. No Strain on Bind- 
ing. No Steel Springs. 




OPENS FLAT. TELEPHONE 237. 

Do not order any Books until you have 

examined this. Strongest Book Ever 

Made. Guaranteed. 

WM. P. BENNETT, 

89 FOURTH AVENUE, 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 



WM. (-,. LKK. 



JA.S. HAMILTON. 



LEE & HAMILTON, 

DE.ALERS IN 



Breeze Coke Manufactorers. 



HEAVY HAULING. 



No. 98 

Rebecca • Street, 

ALLEGHENY, PA. 



Established IfSJd. 



JEWKLRY! 

Superior Quality. Latest Styles. 



WATCHES ! 

Our Special, Best Value in the World. 
Silver and Gold, every Price. 



Prkcious SI'ONES! 

I purchase extensively, and can offer better 
prices than anybodj' in the city. 



STERLING SILVER ■ RELIABLE PLATE. 

From the simplest pieces to coiupletc 
sets. 



TRBUE CUTUERY, CUT GIjASS, 
CUOCKS, BROflZES and f^OVELiTIES. 

As soon as they appear in the market. 



ESTABLISHED IN ; 



J. c. GROGAH, 

443 MARKET ST., 

COR. FIFTH AVK., nTTJDURQH, Ffl . 

GERMAN 

NATIONAL BANK 



pittsblFrgh, pa. 



CAPITAL, 
SURPLUS, 



$250,000 
480,000 



A. GROETZINGER, President. 

E. H. MYERS, Vice President. 

C. VAN BUREN, Jr., Cashier. 



FOREIGN EXCHANGE 



BOUGHT AND SOLD. 



MELLOR & HOENE, 

77 Fifth Avenue, 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 

Wholesale and Retail Dealers in 




PIKNOS 

OF HIGHEST GRADE, 

wliich are known throughout the world as 
Standards of Execllenee, 

and acknowledged by artists and critics 
to be pepfeet. 



R. HAY & SON, 

SHOE DEALERS, 

125 Federal St., ALLEGHENY, PA. 




■^^\ ^[li — _ 



J. W. ARROTT, President. 



FRANCIS J. TORRANCE, Sec'y & Treas r. 




THE LARGEST PORCELAIN ENArVIELLING WORKS IN THE WORLD, 



en 
o» 



C/5 



CO 



CO 

CO 

ci 

O 
3=1 



Pure Lager Beer. 




jeeg ^jodx^ puB jeuesnj 



THE PEOPLE'S STORE, 

FIFTH AVENUE, PITTSBURGH. 



THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPLETE STORE ! 

DRY GOODS, 

NOTIONS, TRIMMINGS. 

DRESS GOODS, SILKS, VELVETS, 

WRAPS, JACKETS, SUITS, MILLINERY, 

CARPETS, CURTAINS AND UPHOLSTERY GOODS, 

LADIES,' MISSES- AND CHILDREN'S FINE SHOES. 

Choicest Goods ! Newest Styles ! Lowest Prices ! 



CAMPBELL &. DICK, 

83, 8S, 87 A 8<i F/FTrf AVE., PITTSBURGH. 



THE LARGEST ESTABLISHMENT 



NEW YORK 



CHICAGO, 



irraijf 







'-':;D°oK5.caidl^i;o, 

.ARTISTIC BROCHURES, 
v\/»\ENUS,5eUUENIC5/ 



77|)ian^oi)dj7^ 



PklNTlXG. 

ENGRAVING. 

BINDING, 



SAVE TIME BY HAVING YOUR WORK 
COMPLETED IN THE ONE HOUSE. 



Keystone Baking Powder 






tbaue 

POUND W^'' 

MARK 



one Hundred P^""' 



s:«'^/"i 



"^s*-.;^ 



lTHeK«ST.«>S.' 



PUREST AND BEST 

©IRiiS i(& a (©ream oP 
©larfar 5i»atCmy pococ^er, 
Manu^acfurec^ a't^ti puf 
up in J^PPegRenLJ. 

©W® reoommenc^ if 
for ife puriCij, ^trengtfi, 
a^ ©Y^RoPeiSomrjeeia)!^). 

•Sjuaraateei. to gi^e 
tPie 6e<«)t iSafifaifactioa to 
tfte ^ouiSe^Cecper, 



/M.I-E' 



Ask your Grocer for Keystone 

Baking Powder and take 

no other. 



Union Malleable Iron Works. 



H.W. MINNEMEYERi&CO. 

MANUKACTURKKS c U- 

Saddlery e-c- Hardiuare 

I^efined MallEable Iron Ca^ting^, 
PITTSBURGH, PA. 



Factory and Office, 

Nos. 187 to 195 River Avenue, 

Allegheny, Pa. 
(Two doors above Sixteenth Street Bridge.) 



ESTABLISHED 1840. 



Franl^lin Tannefil. 



MARTIN LAPPE & SONS, 



MANUHACTURHRS OF 



Qal\ spanned napness 
LEATHER. 

296 Spring Garden Avenue, 
ALLEGHENY, PA. 



THE PEOPLE'S STORE, 

FIFTH AVENUE, PITTSBURGH. 



THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPLETE STORE ! 

DRY GOODS. 

NOTIONS, TRIMMINGS, 

DRESS GOODS, SILKS, VELVETS, 

WRAPS, JACKETS, SUITS, MILLINERY, 

CARPETS, CURTAINS AND UPHOLSTERY GOODS, 

LADIES,' MISSES AND CHILDREN'S FINE SHOES. 

Choicest Goods ! Newest Styles ! Lowest Prices ! 



CAMPBELL & DICK, 

83, 85, 87 & 8Q FlFTrf AVE., PITTSBURGrf. 

J ^ I 



THE LARGEST ESTABLISHMENT 



NEW YORK 



CHICAGO. 




PRINTING. 

ENGRAVING. 

I'.INDING. 



SAVE TIME BY HAVING YOUR WORK 
COMPLETED IN THE ONE HOUSE. 



Keystone Baking Powder 




PUREST AND BEST 

@IRi;a i)s) a ©ream of 
Uarfar S^atCino- Ooosc^er, 
Manufacfurec^ a'r^ti puf 
up in oTlPPegReriLj. 

©We reeommenc^ if 
£oi* ifis) Suritij, ^trengtfi. 
anb ©WRoPef&omneeiiX^. 

(S\uaranteeil to gi^e 
tPie 6e^t iSiafii&faction to 
tFie fioui^etCeeper. 



''f% 



Ask your Grocer for Keystone 

Baking Powder and take 

no other. 



Union |VIaIleable Iron Works. 


ESTABLISHED 1840. 


H.W.MINNEMEYERi&CO. 

MANTlACrrRI-.KS <)I- 


Fitanl^lin Tannei'ij. 


Saddlery -:!$ Ijarduiare 

I^efined Malleable \m Ca^ting^, 
PITTSBURGH, PA. 


MARTIN LAPPE & SONS, 

MANHHACTtlRHRS OF 


Factory and Office, 

Nos. 187 to 195 River Avenue, 

Allegheny, Pa. 
(Two doors above Sixteenth Street Bridge.) 


LEATHER. 

296 Spring- Garden Avenue, 
ALLEGHENY, PA. 



rC. S. HMUSER. : 

JEAaZELER. 

WATCHES. CLOCKS. lEWELRY. 




THE GREATEST VARIETY OF NEW STYUES. 



Low Priced Preseybs. Mediun) Priced Preseijb^ ai)d Cojbly Presenb^. 



Jewelry of every kind and description in the greatest variety and of 
the newest designs. Call and inspect our stock, you will find that our 
prices are the lowest of any house in the city, for the same style and quality. 

C. S. HAUSeR. 

631 Smithfield Stpeet, Pittsburgh, Pa. 



WE RESPECTFULLY CALL THE ATTENTION OF THE f>UBLIC 
TO OUR MAGNIFICIENT STOCK OF 

SILVERWARE. The styles and patterns of our 
goods in this line are graceful and modern, 
and our stock is so varied and complete that 

every taste and every pocket-book can be \TA 

readily suited. We aim to give the best ^£^ 

value and the best goods. An inspection of 
our stock will satisfy you that is is first-class 
in artistic design, fine workmanship and 
honest qualit5'. 

WATCHES. We can furnish you anj' style or 
grade of time-keeper, and convince you that 
3'ou are obtaining a watch at closest prices 
by dealing with us. We sell the best standard 
movements, the newest style of cases, and 
render great inducements to purchasers. 
Call and inspect our fine line of ladies' and 
gentlemen's watches and learn our prices 
before purchasing elsewhere. You will be 
sure then to buy a reliable timepiece of a 
reliable jeweler at a reliable price. 

SMALL JEWELRY. A stock of rare and lovely 
designs awaits the inspection of those ot our 
customers who wi.h to invest in articles of 
small jewelry. It is a comprehensive and 
well assorted stock, and every article, 
whether brooches, pins, lockets, earrings, 
sleeve buttons or minor trinklets, combine 
^iV novelty, beauty and modern style. Our 

prices are always fair, and their scope so 
wide that none need be disappointed in find- 
ing some article entirely within reach of 
their pocket-book. We present many lovely 
designs, entirely new, and guarantee every 
article to be just what it is represented. 



^.^ 



Ke 



^>kring your repairing to us if you desire expert workmanship, 

prompt attention and moderate charges. Watches and 

Clocks cleaned, repaired, regulated and put in order in the most 

p - skillful manner. We make a specialty of caring for valuable 

Ira. time-pieces of all kinds. Jewelry and all small wares repaired, 

iM Q cleaned and polished in the most workmanlike style. We invite 

your patronage, guaranteeing satisfaction on everything entrusted 

to us, and will make prices as low as first-class work can be 

done. Old Gold and Silvep Bought. 

C. * S. * HAUSER, 

631 SMITHFIELD STREET, PITTSBURGH, PA. 



CHESTER B.ALBREE. 







ORNAMENTAL IRON W^ORKS. 

Fences, Railings, Iron Stairs, Fire Escapes, Bridge Railing and Iron and Steel Forgings. 

10. IS, 20, 22, 24. 20. 2S, HO yiathef Street, 

TELEPHONE 3270. ALLEGHENY. 



>:?^a>.^Si.^.a^^.j;.a.a»a>^a>Sa./ 



CjfABl-IJHED I867 







^%A 








DECKER BROS., 

KNABE and FISC 



ESTEY 
STOREY & CLAR 



HER piano?. 
K Organ?. 



Ma51QAL ^OObS 



LOWKST I'KICKS. 



H. KLEBEt & 



506 WOOD ST. 



THE OLDKST AM) CHlvAI-KST MUSIC S'l'OKK 
IN PITTSHUKGH. 



STEINW«Y. 
CONOVFR. 






PiAi^os: 



OPERA 
EMERSON. 



Prom $2CO to $1,000, 

EARHUFF MOUSE AND DUST-PROOF 
ORGANS, S50 TO SIOO. 

Vou can save $25 to $50 on the price of a Piano or 
Organ. 

WARRANTED FOR TEN YEARS. 

EASY TIME PAYMENTS GIVEN. 

[dest jarass ar)J Slrhiq Igsfrun^cnts. 



506 Wood Street, 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 



HOUSE ESTABLISHED IN 1859. 

ff. W. fatties. 

©Jcw^clcr and |nipoptcp. 

30 X i2 FIFTH AVENUE. 

OUR SPECIALTIES: 

i^^riNE WATCI1E5,fe^^ 

HIGH CL4SS DIAMONDS. 

RICH JEWELRY, 

STERLING SILVERWARE 

AND 

ARTISTIC IMPORTED DECORATIVE WARES, 

From the r 



ebrated make 




C3-0 TO 



D. Wi 





CARPETS, 

AND 

Household Goods 



OF ALL KINDS. 



Wo. 313 lV|arl^Bfc ^tmt, 



PITTSBURGH, PA. 



" Faets are not JVIere Fancies." 

LIGHT THROWN UPON A DARK 
SUBJECT. 

J/is/fddi/!j^ /Yiccs are siinjilj- Tciiif>tini^ 
Baits to entrap the unwary. 

Profit by Past Experiences! 

We place our GOODS and PRICES with 
tliosc of STRICTLY CASH CONCERNS. 
\'o\\ can bny of us the newest, latest anil 
nobbiest designs in 

FURNITURE, CARPETS, 
STOVES, &C., 

of every description, of every quality, to 
furnish your homes complete. 

FOR CASH OR CREDIT, 

For same Price as asked by Legitimate Cash Houses. 

No shop worn goods, everj'thing New and 
Bright. All are cordiallv invite<l to call at 
our Mammoth Stores. 

PICKERINGS, 

Cor. Penn Avenue and 10th Street, 
PITTSBURGH, PA. 



COMPLETE HISTORY 



OF THE 



CITY OF ALLEGHENY 

PENNSYLVANIA, 
GffiGiallv Authopized bv the Gentennial Gommittiec. 



HH(iI.\"XI\CT WITH THE FIRST DWELLING THAT WAS EVER BLMLT WITHIN ITS 
LIMITS UY WHITE MAN, AND On'ING AN ACCOUNT OF THE 

THRILLING INCIDENTS IN THE 



LIFE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS 



THEIR STRUGGLES FOR SUPREJIACV WITH THE SAVAGE AM) HLUOD-THIRSTY 

INDIANS, THEIR MANY ACTS OF HEROISM THEIR MARTYRDOM 
^ IN THE CAUSE OF CIVILIZATITION, AND THEIR FINAL 

^ TRIUMPH. ALSO A FULL AND ACCURATE 

ACCOUNT OF THE 



Social, Educational ^"^ Industrial Development 



OK ALLEOHENY 



FROVI THAT PERIOD UP TO THE PRESENT DAY, 



Witli Appendix Containing Full Account of Senii-Centennial, Jul_v 17, 
- ■ CARL WILHELM. 



JOS. EICHBAUM Sc CO. 



Call abber)bior) bo bljeir ui)ecjualled facilibies for execubip^ orders for 

SOGIBfPY AND (iOMMBI^GIAL 

ENGRA\ IN(; AND I'^RIXTING 

ar)d bo bt)eir corrjplebe as^orbnjeyb of 

Rine C)fGiti0r)epy, t/irfists' arja Jc)Fauqr)ln-)ci-) s / Valcnals ai-)cl 
KirjG Kai-)cy VSIoods. 

48 FIFTH AVENUE. PITTSBURGH. 



Echols, McMurray&. Co. 



DEALERS IN 



Pianos and Organs 

123 SANDUSKY ST., 

ALLEGHENY, PA. 



WEBER, 

AHLSTROM, 

KURTZM.'\N, 
MASON & HAMLIN. 



PIANOS 

MASON & HAMLI.N. VAllUmiU 

Finest Instruments in the Country 

SOLD ON MOST FAVORABLE TERMS. 



GEO. H. .\HRENS. FRED. M. .\IKEN. 

JAS. B. RO.SS. 



nrctic |ce (o. 

South Ave., Cor. Sturgeon St., 

ALLEGHENY, PA. 



TELEPHONC 



HYGEIA ICE, 

From pure Distilled |||ater. 

ICE 

By the Car Load or in Quantities to Suit 
Purchasers. 

Our Prices always the Lowest 

MARKET RATES. 



/y^ x\//^ kMIc- <\I/^ x\//^ \M/-^ 



HISTORY 



CITY OF ALLEGHENY, 



PENNSYLVANIA, 



1740-1890. 



CARL WILHELM. 




'?<_ 






TO 

ANDREW CARNEGIE, Esq, 

Tb© Cban^pioi) of Literabure, 

THIS BOOK 

Is Rejpecbfully Ii)scribe(i. 



Indkx. 



ViKW OF THE CiTV OF Ar.I.RCHEXV — 

I'RKFACE, ............. . . — 

Introduction, ■ — 

Cn.\PTER I — The first white luaii to set foot on the site of the City of AUeglieii}-. Andrew 
L^ng. Nero's Iroquois Sccutiug expedition. Camping in the shadow of Monument 
Hill, 5 

Ch.\1'TER II — Building of the first Leg-cabin. The advent of the Long fauiily Two other 
families join tlie settlement. Surrounded by hostile savages Terrible encounter 
between Andrew Long and an Indian. The attack. An Indian stratagem. Massacre 
of the colonists, .............. 8 

Ch.vpter III — The French undcitake the construction of a line of forts between the St. 
Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico. Struggle for the possession of the key to the 
Ohio Valley. The Si.x N.^TIONS. The Lancaster conference, in which "fire-water " 
plays an important part. Captain Celeron dc Bienvnlle's expedition down the Alle- 
gheny river, ............... 15 

Cn.vPTER IV — Animosity between reunsylvania auu Virginia. It prevents ihcir co-oijcra- 
tion in the construction of a strong fort at the confluence of the Monongahela and 
Allegheny rivers. The Governor of Canada sends another expedition down the Alle- 
gheny. Fort Duquesne ; its evacuation by the English and occupation by the French. 
Outbreak of the war between France and England for supremacy in North 
America, ............... 20 

Ch.\i>ter V — Uprising of llie Indians after Braddock's defeat. The red demons bathe in 
the blood of the white settlers. The Russell family seeks safety in flight. An affect- 
ing farewell. Surprised by Indians. A terrible conflict. Massacre of Jlrs. Rusisell's 
children. Mrs. Russell is given a Mazcppa ride ........ 24 

Ch.\ptf.r VI — The implacable hatred of the Indians toward the whites. Cruelty an inhe- 
rent trait of the Indian character. An unparalleled act of liarbarity executed opposite 
Fort Duquesne. Live coals laid on the scalped heads of white prisoners, . . .29 

Ch.\pter VII— The "Reserve Tract opposite Pittsburgh" laid out in lots. The birth of 
Allegheny County. An act of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania 
ordains that the Seat of Justice shall be in the new town. Pittsburgh as a competitor 
for the County Seat. Mr. Wright's sarcastic remarks on the Reserve Tract. Sur- 
veyor Redick and his report on the site of .VUegheny, in which his descriptive powers 
come into full play. The Act repealed. The first permanent log-cabin. The birth 
of General William Robinson, .■•■■•.,... 31 

Ch.vpter VIII — Slow growth of Allegheny town. James Robisou, the ferryman ; a com- 
munication from his great-grandson. A biographical sketch of General William 
Robinson, ............... 3-$ 

Ch.^pTER IX — Primitive means of coniniuuicalion between Pittsburgh and .\lleghenv. 
Parke's paper on Modern Ferries on the Ohio, Monongahela and .\lleghcny Rivers. 
The .\lle,gheny Bridge Company is organized. Construction of the first bridge over 
the .\llegheny river. The suspension bridge sn 

Ch.\pter X— The insecurity of life and property during Allegheny's log-cabiu days. Mrs. 
Robinson, single-handed, defends her cabin a.ijainst a liand of savages. John Kellv on 
a " fire-water " excursion. The Getty family settle in .\llegheny, . . . 3y 



Chapter XI — Henry Rickenbach's advent to the North Side. More new settlers. Alle- 
gheny gains "rapidly in population. Its first industry. The establishment of the 

Juniata Rolling Mill, 42 

Chapter XII — Allegheny is made a borough by .\ct of General Assembly. The bounda- 
ries. The steady growth of Allegheny. Better educational facilities. More manu- 
facturing establishments. Beginning of the Fire Department. An amusing docu- 
ment. Allegheny town is made a city. A dark page in the history of Allegheny, . 44 
Chapter XIII — The educational history of the City of Allegheny. John Kelly, the 
veteran teacher. Mr. Scott presides over the "educational center" of Allegheny 
town. Organization of the public schools. Allegheny's collegiate institutions, . 47 
ChapTp:r XIV — The Allegheny Observatory and its history, •■.... 54 

Chapter XV — The Carnegie Free Library. Andrew Carnegie, the philanthropist. How 
the City of Allegheny came to be the recipient of such a magnificent gift. Formal 
opening of the Carnegie Free Library by the President of the United States, . . tiO 
Chapter XVI— Allegheny's transportation facilities, their progress and development, . H6 

The Allegheny Public Parks, 68 

The Story of Massy Harbisou, ••■••■...... 79 

Allegheny from a Sanitary Point of View, ......... 102 

The Semi-Centennial Celebration, ............ 109 

The Official Report of the Semi-Cenlennial Committee, ....... 120 

Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Councilmen and Officials of the Citv uf Allegheny, . 124 




PRBFACE. 



I have not undertaken to write a critical history of the City of Allegheny. 
Neitiier was it my purpose to compile a book of statistics. What I attempted 
to do was to write a historical narrative, believing that form best suited to the 
occasion. In fact, no other style of history could be made interesting in this 
case. Had I been writing the history of a city of national importance or great 
antiquity, the case would have been different. The events narrated in the 
following pages can only be of local interest, and if I have succeeded in making 
tiiem interesting and in a measure instructive, my task has been accomplished. 

It may be objected that I have given too much space to tradition and 
l)ersonal adventure. To this I answer that Walter Scott's novels are a better 
history of Scotland than has ever been written of that country. While most of 
liis characters are imaginary and the events made to suit his purpose, he draws 
a true picture of the people, customs and institutions of his country, a picture 
that impresses itself much more readily on the mind of the reader than pages 
of lifeless facts and figures. I mention this not because I wish to make any 
comparison between that great author's work and my own humble performance, 
hut simply to show that by coloring, that is by giving life and interest to minor 
events, history is made palatable to the general reader, without in the least 
detracting from its intrinsic value. 

The early history of Allegheny abounds in material from which a liistorical 
romance, say on the Cooper style, could be constructed, and I shall always 
regret that I wasted my opportunity. It was a real pity to be obliged to kill 
off" such a hero as Andrew Long in tlie second chapter, when he might have 
been put through many more thrilling adventures and hair-breadth escapes, 
finallyto die of old age, bedded on the two or three hundred Iroquois scalps 
which he had taken to avenge the cruel death of his mother at the hand of the 
savages of that tribe. It would have been much more interesting had Mrs. 
li^issel and "lier children been rescued at the last moment, instead of allowing 
them to be massacred by the Indians. The plaintive lowing of the cow, when 
that affectionate brute found it was left behind, alone in the wilderness, 
could have attracted a party of trappers, to apjjcar upon the scene just in time 
to save Mrs. Russel and the little ones. In that case all the savages, with one 
exception, would have been made to bite the dust, and that one sent home 
without ears as a terrible warning to the rest of his tribe. Or Samuel Bendei' 
and Ills two companions might Iiave arrived twenty-four hours earlier at the 
deserted cabin, accompanied by a band of friendly Indians, and swooped down 
upon the hostile savages just as they charged across the clearing. It would 



liave been too late to save poor Itttle Tom from the cruel bullet which struck 
liiin down, but he could have recovered, afterwards to become a great Indian 
lighter. 

It was my intention to give a minute account of tjju industrial development 
of Allegheny. The material had been gathei-ed and most of it put in sliape, 
when it was found that it would swell the size of the work far beyond its 
intended limits. However, should the reception of the present volume warrant 
it, I may venture to publish the matter separately. 

The main sources of my information have been personal interviews with 
citizens whose forefathers were among the early settlers of Allegheny. The 
Colonial Records of Pennsylvania have been consulted, but to little purpose. 
They are as bare of information regarding the early history of the City of 
Allegheny' as the different histories of Allegheny Countv, the authors of which 
seem to have had no cognizance of the existence of any such place as the 
North Side. 

Pittsburgh, January 20, 1S91. C. W. 








r requires no ^reat stretch of imagina- 
tion to k't one's mind travel back a cen- 
'tiny aixl a half, and contemplate the 
-ite of till' present city of Alleghenj- 
■fore it had been trodden by the foot 
of white man. 

We see a jirimeval forest of iiii- 
, i/7'" »*'< '^ .."*"' "*'.^' '^'W'"'*\'''i-|*^ speakable grandeur, gently rising from 
'"/. ^".^aS^S J'V**''^J^^'^if<A*>v|'''* '' 't^''"'^*'- l'"'pifl f'tream :iii<l losing itself 

aniid the undulating hills to the north 
and east. We breathe the pure atmos- 
p phere. the delicious fragrance of the 
]** velvety carpet of greensward interwoven 
\ with wild flowers of a hundred brilliant 
>a hues, in striking contrast with their 
dark, cool surroundings. We hear the 
vj murmuring of the crystal streamlet as it 
?! winds around the base of yonder hill, 
/ disappearing and re-appearing as if 
1^^ ])layiug hide-and-seek with hollies and 
' ' c^)psewood, graceful flowers and broad- 
headed mushrooms. Here, it hastens 
across a narrow glade ; there, gratefully 
giving life to the roots of a gnarled 
invigorating, until it is received, with open 
arms, by its grander and more majestic flowing brother to be borne along to 
the father of all rivers, and finallv to mingle with the mighty ocean. 



\ 



v.; 



>'# 



■ i':K 



'%■ 



oak ; always fresh, yonng, cooling. 



Tlie forest in all its pristine beauty anil magnificence is spread out before 
us, as j'et undisturbed by tlie greedy hand of man. The stillness over all is that 
of Nature fresh from the hand of God. The trees, the plants, the turf, stand in 
awe before Him. The very beasts of the forest slink silently through the halls 
of the Almighty; and the Indian, as he traverses the woo<is in search of 
game, speaks not. Man builds great piles of stone in which to worship Him, 
but God Himself has reared this dome wherein all Nature kneels before II im 
and asks His blessing. 




^aptci- I. 




HE sun was setting blood red behind the densely wooded hills 
one September evening in the year IT-iO, when around the- last 
curve of the Allegheny river before it joins the Ohio, a small 
boat glided into view. 

It is borne along by a pair of oars, sufficient evidence that 
the sole occupant, wlio is wielding them so dexterously, cannot 
be an Indian. As yet only his broad, flat back and the back ot 
his uncovered head are discernible. Now he holds water with his left oar for a 
inoiiicnt. The prow of the boat swings slightly around to the right. Evi- 
dently lie intends to land on tiiat side. 

This becomes clearer as he holds that course until within two boats' length 
of the shore. Then he gives a strong pull on the left oar, resting the other 
meanwhile. The manoeuvre brings his little craft in line with the dense masses 
of willows that over-hang the banks and touch the water. They offer an excel- 
lent iiiding place for man and boat, if that is his desire. 

But our lonely traveler keeps on down the river. He is letting the boat 
drift now. only toucliing the water with the oars once in a while to keep her 
straigiit. In this way he reaches a point almost opposite an abruptly rising 
eminence not far from shore. 

This eminence is now called Monument Hill. 

Again he holds water with his left oar, and then, propelled by two vigorous 
strokes, the boat shoots under the willows and disappears from view. 

But willows, no matter of how dense a growth, are no obstruction to our 
sight, dear reader, which, if necessity requires, can penetrate a stone wall, or 
see beyond the horizon. Tiierefore, with that supernatural gift which belongs 
alike to the writer of fiction and the historian, we follow the boat and see how 
its owner makes it fast to the shore. In the bottom of it there had lain what at 
iirst sight and looked at from a little distance, might have passed for a buffalo 
robe rolled up in a buncli. But as soon as the landing is effected, a head 
and a tail emerge from it, and it assumes the shape of a large wolf-hound. The 
animal slowly rises, shakos himself, and then, with one great bound, gains the 
shore, wiiicli is almost breast-high. 

His master follows, but more deliberately, for he is burdened with a long- 
rifle — -which he handles with as much tenderness as a mother her infant child — 
an ax and a large well-filled pouch of leather. These things he deposits on the 
ledge of the bank, and then swings himself up after them with the agility ot a 
cat. The man evidently is in no hurr}' to penetrate the woods. He gives a 
sign to his dog, whose only answer is a glance of almost human intelligence at 
his master, and then he disappears in the forest. 

" I don't believe there is an Iroquois savage within .">(• miles," mutters the 



man to liimself, '-but 'foresight is better tiiaii hind sight.' If there is one witliin 
20 miles Nero will find it out in that many minutes " 

He stretches himself on the grass and strikes a light for his pipe, the some 
what vigorous fragrance of which he seems to enjoy hugely. 

Awaiting Nero's return from his Iroquois-scenting expedition, we have a 
good opportunity to take a closer look at the first white man that ever step])ed 
on the present site of the city of Allegheny. To judge by his tall, spare figure, 
his broad chest, his prominent cheek-bones and his bronzed face, he might have 
easily been taken lor an Indian, but there all similarity came to an end. His 
iiair was not black and titraight, as that of the savage, but light brown and 
wavy. His motions, though free and full of latent power and energy, had not 
the tiger like, lurking spring which distinguishes the Indian. And lastly, his 
garb and outfit were that of a trapper and pioneer settler combined. 

The upper portion of his body was clothed in a plain hunting-shirt of deei-- 
skin, under which a flannel garment was worn to absorb the perspiration. A 
pair of tight-fitting breeches, also of deer-skin met below the knee by leg- 
gings of the same material, complete the simple, but highly serviceable dress 
of our friend. His armament consisted of the already mentioned rifle and ax 
supplemented by a broad, two-edged hunting-knife stuck in his belt, where he 
also carried the ax, the blade protected by a leather case. His age might 
have been guessed at 40 years. 

The whole appearance of the man indicated great physical strength and 
endurance. Long fatigue and continued exercise had reduced his form to 

brawn, bones and sinews. 
His features, coppei'-color- 
ed from constant exposure 
to wind and weather, with 
the broad chin, the firmly 
set moutii, the aquiline 
nose and a pair of keen 
piercing gray eyes, were 
powerfully expressive. He 
was beyond question a 
man of fearlessness, in- 
domitable energy and un- 
bending will power. 

Such was Andrew Long, 
the pioneer settler of the 
present city of Allegheny. 
He had come down from 
a small village of friendly 
Indians situated at the 
head-waters of the Alle- 
gheny, to look for a place 
to settle with his family. 
It was his strong arm that 
felled t!ie trees which gave 

ANDREW LONG. 




material for the roof and walis of tlie lonesome log-cubiii. that cabin, which 
nestling in a primeval forest, was destined to expand into a centre of popula- 
tion, education and industry within a niarvelously short space of time. But 
we are anticipating. 

Antlrew J.,()ng. as we shall hereafter call our hefo, because this is the name 
of the first settler handed down to us by tradition, had finished his pipe and was 
knocking out the ashes, when the rustling of some dry leaves behind the tree 
against which his back rested made him jump to his feet and grasp his rifle. 

But it was only Nero, who had returned fiora his scout. Witli panting 
breath the dog stretched himself at his master's feet and looked up to him as is 
to say that he was ready to be interrogated as to the result of his exploration. 

•'The woods are clear of unfriendly red-skins, eh. Nero?" the trapper 
asked. 

In answer the dog wagged his tail in the affirmative. 

'• Well, let's go and look for a lodging itlace, then,'' Long continued. 

He fastened the ax to his belt, picked up his rifle and, followed by the dog 
maile his way to the foot of the already mentioned mountain, only a few 
hundred yards distant. Here, in a small open space, and protected by the 
far-reaching branches of a giant oak, he encamped for the night, leaving Nero, 
to stand watch, with tiie comfortable knowledge that a more trustworthy sentinel 
it would have been impossible to find. 




^l^apter I J 




EXT morning, ere the sun, which rose in unclouded splendor, 
had left the horizon, Andrew was up and doing. After looking 
to the safety of his boat and taking a plunge in the river, he 
attended to his breakfast. It was a meal of Spartan simplicity, 
consisting merely of two or three strips of dried bear meat and 
a few crackers, washed down with a drink of pure cold water 
from a spring near by. Nero shared his master's breakfast, and 
that he enjoyed it was plain by the ceaseless motion of his tail. 

The meal over, Andrew began to look around for a suitable place on which 
to build a cabin. It was his purpose to establish a trading-post close to the forks 
of the Ohio, further west than any white adventurer had yet dared to go. But 
the business of trading at that point promised large returns if fi-iendly lelations 
with the neighboring tribes of Indians could be established. The country 
about the headwaters of the Allegheny was then inhabited by the Delewares, 
while up the Monongahela the Mohicans had built a number of small villages on 
both sides of the river. These two tribes had been conciliated mainly through 
the fact that they found trading with the pale-faces to their advantage. But the 
Iroquois, then still the most powerful tribe of Indians in America, though 
driven back beyond the Allegheny mountains by the irresistible march of 
civilization, were deadly enemies of the white man. When an Iroquois brave 
had taken the scalps of twelve pale-faces, and drunk the heart's blood of at least 
two white babies torn from the mother's breast and killed in her sight, while she 
was tied to the stake, he was entitled to admission to the happy hunting-grounds 
(the Indians' Pai'adise) after death. This tribe, at the time our history begins, 
occupied the shores of the Ohio from about sixty miles below the confluence of 
the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers to the Illinois country and the 
Mississippi. 

But we must return to Andrew Long, the bold pioneer, who intended to 
brave the hatred of those savages, and even risk the lives of his wife and children 
in the attempt to establish an outpost of civilization. We left him in search of 
a site for his log cabin. He f.ound it north of Monument Hill. A 
rich grassy opening, over which hundreds of broad-headed, thick-stemmed oaks 
flung their gnarled branches. It was an ideal spot for such a purpose. Protected 
from the heat of the sun during the summer months, and from the winter blasts 
as well, within a few steps of a delicious spring of cool and pure water, with 
game and fish abounding in the neighborhood, it was indeed just such a place as 
a backwoodsman would choose for his home. As soon as he had selected the 



site for his cabiu. Andrew went to work felling trees for building material. It 
was his intention to put up the log house that fall. He had two sons, eighteen 
and twenty years of age respectively, who had stayed with their niotlier at the 
settlement up the river, while the head of the family was looking for a suitable 
place whereon to build a permanent home. Besides the boys there were three 
u-irls sixteen, ten and live years old, and a baby at the mother's breast. 

It was pre-arranged that if Long, after being absent ten days, did not return 
to the settlement, his two sons should follow him in another boat loaded with 
provisions and tools. When the log house was completed the rest of the family 
were to bo brought down the river. 

The arrangements were all carried out as planned, and by the end of Octo- 
ber, 1740, Monument Hi" i ■i—l ■'■■"■■ 'i'"- 'i'- ti'~f liouse of what was to 

be, by and by, the 
City of Allegheny. 
It was constructed 
entirely of logs, 
not even the bark 
being removed 
from them, except 
where they rested 
upon each other, 
and where it was 
necessary that they 
should fit snugly. 
The hut was one 
and one-half sto- 
ries high, and large 
enough to comfort- 
ably hold a family 
of eight persons. 
In those days the 
house of every 
frontiersman was a 
little fort, with 
loop-holes for win- 
dows, and enclosed 
by palisades in- 
stead of a fence. 
Andrew Long did 
not neglect to for- 
tify his cabin in 
that manner, and tluis make it capable of resisting a sudden attack of hostile 
Indians. 

The Long family passed two peaceful and prosperous years at their new 
settlement. In the spring of the third year two more families from Attique (or 
Kittanning, as it was afterwards called by the English), came down the river and 
built a log house each, about where the conservatory now stamls in Aile- 




J'l;iUK\AL FURE.-iT. 



glieiiy Public Piuks, but; their names liave not been handed duwii to us by the 
pioneer annals. 

Early in 1743 the natives even those who for a number of years had been 
in friendly relations with the traders, began to show signs of hostility. Every- 
thing indicated a general uprising of the savages west of the Allegheny 
mountains. That meant the destruction ot nearly every settlement in south- 
western Pennsylvania, with the massacre of the pioneers. It seems that the 
Iroquois had sent delegates to the tribes located on the shores of the Allegheny 
and Monongahela rivers, and the country about the headwaters of those streams, 
exhorting them to take up arms against the white invaders, who despoiled tiieir 
hunting grounds. A liberal distribution of "fire water" (said to have been 
supplied by the French) helped to awake-i the Indian breast to a sense of the 
wrongs the red man was suffering at the hands of the English settlers, who 
were making inroads upon his territory, and driving him further and further to 
the west, with the evident intention of finally extinguishing him altogether. 

The Delewares, the Mohicans and the Shawanees joined the bloodthirsty 
Iroquois savages on -the war-path, and soon the soil of southwestern Pennsylva- 
nia was soaked with the blood of the brave frontiersmen and their families, only 
two or three escaping the tomahawk, the scalping knife and the stake. 

It is not our intention to describe in detail the raids of the Indians on the 
white settlements, save those that come within the scope of the present history. 

News of the uprising had been received by the seltlement near the forks of 
the Ohio. The heads of the three families of which it was composed, came to- 
gether for a consultation as to the best method of defense, should the settlement 
be attacked by the Indians, as it was almost sure to be. Flight was impossible. 
Surrounded as they were by savages on all sides, the safest thing was to stay ami 
fight. There was a bare possibility that succor might arrive in time from 
Detroit, which city had been founded by the French in 1700, and from which 
they had built a good military road to the Ohio, or La Belle Kiviere, as they 
were in the habit of calling that stream. 

On account of his large experience as a pioneer, as well as his energy and 
personal courage, Andrew Long was chosen to preside over the council of war, 
and his advice was listened to with the deepest attention. In his opinion the 
other two cabins should be abandoned -and all the forces ot the little settlement 
concentrated in his own log house, whieh was double the size of either of the 
others 

Long kept powder and ball by the barrel, for trading purposes, and there 
was enough ammunition on hand to kill several thonsaiid I'edskins, should they 
come within gun shot. If they could only manage to run the water from the 
spring within the palisades, the garrison would be in a condition to stand a 
comparatively long siege. 

Long's proposition was accepted, and the others moved all their belongings 
into his log 'house. There were nine fighting men. Counting all the male members 
of the three families'who had passed their seventeenth year. There were also 
six fighting women, for it must be remembered that the wives and daughters 
of those early settlers knew how to handle a rifle, to swing an ax, and in close 
encounter make use of a hunting knife, almost as well as the men themselves. 

10 



Tlie little garrison then, consisted of fifteen able-bodied members, every one 
of whom would die at his or her post if necessar}'. 

Long conceived a plan for carrying water from the spring within the 
palisades that encircled and fortified the log house, whicii proved to be entirely 
feasible, and everybody wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. The plan 
was to build an underground wooden trough. The distance to the spring was 
not great, and there were a dozen hollow trees lying about that could be utilized 
for the purpose. Everybody went to work and in throe days a ditch had been 
dug, hollow logs placed in it and the joints made water tight with clay. The 
aqueduct was read^'. Tiie ditch was then filled in and the turf replaced, so that 
not even the sharp eye of a savage could detect a disturbance of the ground. 
Within the palisades, or what might properly be termed the court yard of the 
log house, a hole, about ten feet deep and six in diameter was dug. so that in 
case of fire plenty of water should be on hand. 




P^NCOrNTER liETWKfiN AN INDIAN AND ANDREW LONG. 

All these arrangements made and as large a stock of provisions laid in as 
could be stored away, the settlers calmly awaited their foes. Tiie men took 
turn about in scouting, but did not venture far from the log house for fear of 
being cut oflf by the sudden approach of the enemy in another direction. 

Weeks passed and still no Indians had been seen. It was vain to hope th;it 



11 



the savages liad no knowledge of the existence of this partir-iilar settloirieiit. 
They probably even knew the exact number of scalps to be found there. 

One evening, wiien Long was scouting along the bank of the river east of 
the log house, the moving of a bush attracted his attention. He walked up to 
it expecting to see a deer jump up and break away. When lie was about ten 
feet from the spot something did jump up, but it wasn't a deer, nor any other 
four-footed beast. An Indian in full warpaint stood there as if the earth had 
suddenly ejected him. In the same moment atomaliawk came whizzing tlirough 
the air, but, quick as the savage had been. Long dodged the weapon, altliough 
it had been thrown witli almost incredible foi'ce and accuracy, and it lodged in a 
tree twenty feet behind liiin. The Indian gave a grunt of rage and drew a knife, 
but before he could make use of it, Long was upon him with the leap of a tiger 
and liad grasped liim around the body, and now ensued a combat for life between 
the two, that words are too weak to describe. The pioneer was the equal of the 
savage in strength, agility and endurance, and his superior in coolness and 
judgment. It was a magnificent wrestling match at first, in which each of the 
combatants centered ail his efforts upon the freeing of his right arm, for the use 
of the knife Not a word passed between them, but their gleaming eyes and 
hissing breath spoke of tlieir fierce determination. Clasping each other in deadly 
embrace, they writhed and twisted and rolled on the ground, now the white man 
on top and now the Indian. Suddenly Long's left hand went up to the 
Indian's throat. It fastened on it like a vise. The savage's eyes bulged from 
their sockets ; his body writhed like that of a serpent. For a moment he loos- 
ened his grip upon his foe Fatal movement! The pioneer's hunting-knife 
plunged to the hilt into his breast. Tiie Indian gave one gasp, and tiien his 
body straightened out in death. 

Long disengaged himself from the body of the savage, listened intently 
for a moment, and then, picking up his rifle ran as fast as his legs would 
carry him in the direction of the log house. He found everybody inside of the 
palisades. 

"Barricade the entrance," he said quietly. "The Indians are here." 

When the door had been made fast, he told of his encounter with the 
savage, whom he believed to be one of the scouts of a band of Iroquois, coming 
to raid the settlement. For that reason he had not made use of the riile, the 
report of which might have attracted a dozen other scouts, who were sure to 
be in the neighborhood. 

Everytiiing was put in shape to give the savages a red-hot reception 
should they venture an attack, which in all probability would be made after dark. 

Hardly twenty minutes had elapsed since Long's return to the log house 
from his terrible encounter with the Indian, when the woods rang with the war- 
whoops of the Iroquois, who had come upon tiie body of their dead brave. The 
blood-curdling yells of the savages echoed tiirougli the forest as if ten thousand 
demons had been let loose from tlie infernal regions. 

The same night the Indians attacked the log house. They outnumbered the 
garrison ten to one, but again and again they were beaten back by the brave 
pioneers, who did not waste a single bullet, but only fired when the shot was 
sure to have effect. The Indians had soon lost twenty-five of their number. 

12 



At'tc'v till' eixtli Mttack tliey drew back into tlie woods and lii'ld a C(juiicil of war. 
Tlie niglit wore ou and day was almost breaking, when tlie garrison of the log 
liouse perceived a |>eciiliar odor, as of green wood burning. As it grew light 
the worst fears of the pioneers were realized. The savages had set the woods 
on lire north of the log lionse. A gentle morning breeze blowing from that 
direction, was lazily rollin<j great clouds of thick black smoke, of the most 
penetrating and aggravating kind, down upon the doomed cabin. No human 
beinsi could live in that smoke longer than ten minutes. 




ATTACK ON EXTERIOR OK CABIN. 

Long and his companions knew that their fate was sealed. They did not 
care so much for themselves as for the women and children, w^hom a horrible 
fate awaited should they fall into the hands of the savages. The only alternative 
left them from being smothered to death was to make a sally. It was better to 
die fighting than to await the inglorious death of suffocation. There was no 
time to be lost, however, and Long, putting himself at the head of the little 
band, with the women and children in the middle, led them out of the entrance 
through the palisades. But they had hardly got outside, when a terrific volley 
from the rifles of the Indians, who were scattered along the edge of the wood 
to the east of the log house, was poured into them. Fully one-half of their 
number fell, either dead or mortally wounded. Long was pierced by fifteen 
bullets. All the men except Albert Long, the second son of the pioneer, were 
dead. He was taken prisoner with the rest of the party by the savages, but 



13 



managed to make his escape while they were all being conveyed to the next 
Iroquois village. 

Of the fate ot the other prisoners nothing is known, but it can easily be 
imagined. 

Every one was, in all probability, tortured to death with such refinement ot 
horrible detail as only an Indian savage can conceive and carry out. 




14 



^baptcp III. 




NE yeai' after tlie events narrated in tlie last cliapter, namely, 
in 17-t-i, tlie war, wliicli iiad been brewing for years between 
France and England, broke out at last. and. though the field oi 
battle was four thousand miles away, it was severely felt in the 
colonies, especially in the western jjart of Pennsylvania. Tlu- 
French, by right of discovery, claimed all the land drained by 
the Mississippi and its tributaries. They only conceded to 
England "he territory east of the Allegheny mountains, the summit of which 
the French regarded as the natural liiiut to their posessions. They contem- 
plated the erection of a line of fortifications extei-ding from the St. Lawrence 
to the Gulf of Mexico. To carry out this plan they must utilize La Belle Riviere. 
and forthwith they sent emissaries to all the Indian tribes inhabiting the shores 
of the "beautiful river," to give them presents and make treaties with them 
regarding the erection of forts Principal among these ti'ibes were the Si.r 
Nationti, a confederation consisting of the Oneidas, Senectis, Jlohan'M. Tmca 
ruras, Onundagati and CaytKjux. 

The French called them Iioquois. They had a council house, (a log 
cabin of enormous size) at (humdaya, where the delegates from all the tribes 
composing the confederation met once a year to transact national business. 
But the emissaries did not meet with great success. All their presents and 
lirilliant promises were to no purpose. The Indian did not want any chain of 
forts along the (f-hi-gon, and. moreover, they did not like the French as well 
as they did the English. The reason fortius was, that the English frontiersmen 
were princii)ally traders^ who furnished them with rifles and ammunition in 
exchange for furs, while the French pioneers were settlers in tlie true sense of 
that term ; that is, they tilled soil and had come to stay. 

Meanwhile the English were not idle. They understood the imjxirtance of 
the Ohio and that the posssesion of that river was absolutely necessary to the 
nation that wished to occupy the lands west of the Allegheny mountains as far 
as the Mississippi. It was the key. the "'open sesame." to one of the most fertile 
regions in the world, the virgin soil of which held untold millions buried in its 
chaste bosom. 

In the fall of 17-1-4, the English entered into negotiations with the Indians 
with the object of obtaining pernjission to erect several forts on the Ohio, 
for the protection of the traders and settlers. 

For obvious reasons the English particularly desired to build a fortification 
at the confluence of the Monongahela and the Ohio. That would give them a 



15 



good hold oil the Ohio Valley, and serve as a eheck upon the eneroachnients of 
the French. , 

(Jonrad Weiser. the colonial interpreter of Pennsylvania, was commissioned 
by the president of the Executive Council of that colony to treat with tiie 
Indians, and if possible, persuade them to send delegates to a conference to be 
held at Lancaster, in which, besides the representatives di Pennsylvania, the 
commissioners of Maryland and Virginia were also to take part. Weiser was 
successful in the mission, and the conference took place. It is recorded that 
the Indian delegates were kept under the influence of intoxicating liquors from 
the time they reached Lancaster until they left that place again. Of course the 
crafty pale-faces had everything their own way in treating with the simple, 
unsophisticated savages. But while the result of the conference was very 
gratifying to the commissioners, it did not help to increase the love of the red- 
skins for the" white men. 

When the copper-colored delegates sobered up, on reaching their wigwams, 
they dimly recollected that they had given the English the privilege of erecting 
a number of forts along the Ohio, which, as the children of the forest knew, 
even in their simple minds, was equivalent to giving up the Ohio Valley. 

They would be crowded fiirther and fai-ther toward the west, driven off 
their most valuable Jiunting grounds by the hated settlers, and at last be forced 
to seek refuge in the barren plains beyond the Mississippi. 

The delegates saw the enormity of their folly, as the fumes of the liquor 
evaporated. They held a meeting among themselves and decided not to make 
known to their tribes the result of the Lancaster conference. 

Any attempts ]jy either the English or the French to build fortifications on 
the Ohio should be resisted to the utmost by the Indians inhabiting the shores, 
of that river. 

But for the present, neither one power nor the other undertook to carry out 
its plans regarding the Ohio Valley. 

The war between Great Bi'itain and France terminated in the summer of 
1748. The treaty of peace was signed at Aix-la-Chapelle, on October 1st, but 
the treaty did -nothing to settle the vexed question t)f boundaries between the 
French and English colonies in North America. Meanwhile, traders and 
pioneers were invading the territory claimed by the French, and taking 
possession of the lands and the French fur trade, with as much sang-froid as if 
they had inherited both from their grandfathers. 

In the year after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Admiral de la Jonquiere. 
Governor-General of Canada, was succeeded by the Marquis de la 
Gallissoniere. He was the chief representative of France in Ameiica, and 
was entrusted with unlimited power over her colonial possessions. In him 
the plan of a chain of forts, reaching from Canada to Louisiana, found an 
enthusiastic supporter, and he at once set to work to carry it out. Celoron de 
Bienville, a captain in the colonial troops, with twenty officers, and about four 
hundred men, nearly one-half of whom were Indians, was sent to the head 
waters of the Ohio, to descend that stream, and by fair means or foul, get 
permission to establish a number of forts for the protection of such French 
pioneers as might desire to settle on the banks of the La Belle Riviere. At 

16 



the same time lie was to drive out of that territoiT the English traders and 
settlers who had the audacity to openly defy the claims of la (jrande nation, on 
all the lands west of the Allegheny mountains. 

Captain C^loron de Bienville's expedition proved an entire failure, at least 
so far as his negotiations with the Indians for the erection of forts on the Ohio 
were concerned. 

On the 29th day of July, 17Jfi, the party reached the Allegheny river, and 
the next day einharked in thirty hirch-bark carioeis, which they had brought with 
them. Before leaving the shore, however, Laiiiis XV.,wais irroclaimed lord of 
all that region. Tlie arms of France stamped on a sJieet of tin, were nailed to 
a tree, and a plate of lead was buried at its foot, inscribed as follows : 

'■'■In the year of our Lord, lllfi, in the reign of Louis XV., King of 
France, we, Celoron, commanding the detachment sent by the Marquis de la 
Gallissoniere, Commander- General of Nev3 France, to restore tranquility in 
eertaiti villages of these cantons, have buried this plate at the confluence of the 
Ohio and the Kanaonagon, this 30th day of July, as a token of renewal of 
possession, lieretofore taken of the aforesaid River Ohio, of all streams that 
empty into it, and all lands on both sides, to the sources of the aforesaid 
streams, as the preceding Kings of France have enjoyed or ought to have 
enjoyed it, and which they have upheld by force of arms and by treaties, 
especially by those of Myswick. Utrecht and Aix-la- Chapelle.'''' 

Some distance below French Creek they buried another leaden plate 
bearing the same inscription. 

On the 5th of August, Captain Cfeloron's expedition reached an Indian 
village called Attique by the French, on the site of what is now Kittanning. 
Tiiere were about lifteen wigwams and several log cabins, but they had all 
lieeii abandoned by their owners, who fled into the mountains on the approach 
uf the French. The same was the case with a number of other villages along 
the Ohio. 

On the Sth, the flotilla passed the site of the future city of Allegheny, and 
Commander Celoron, in his Memoires Sur La Belle Riviere, describes in glow- 
ing terms, the virgin beauty of the primeval forest growing close to that bank 
of the river, and the leafy undulating hills, which, with their graceful curves 
and outlines, reminded him of the billows of the ocean. 

They passed on down to Logstown, where the expedition met with quite a 
diti'erent reception from the one anticipated. Here the Indians did not desert 
their wigwams, but stood drawn up in line on the bank of the river. They 
outnumbered C^lorou's forces almost two to one, and were fully as well armed. 
Their threatening attitude plainly indicated their sentiments toward the French. 
Captain Celoron knew that he could not risk a battle with such a superior force, 
especially as his men, worn out by the hardships of the expedition, were in no 
cyndition to fight. He therefore attempted concilatory measures. Five Cana- 
dians, divested of arms were sent up the steep bank, bearing valuable presents 
to the chiefs. In return for the presents, the French only asked for the privi- 
lege of being allowed to encamp for the night on the plateau above, between 
the forest and the village. 

After a lengthy discussion among the chiefs, the privilege was granted 

17 



them. Before going into camp, Cfeloron read to the Indians the following 
message from the Governor-General of the new France, which, on account of 
its unique simplicity and fatherly tone, is here reproduced : 

"Through the love I bear you, my children, I send you Monsieur de 
Cfeloron, to open your eyes to the designs of the English against your lands. 
The establishments they mean to make, and of which you are certainly ignorant, 
tend to your complete ruin. They hide from you their plans, which are to settle 
here and drive you away, if I let them. As a good father who tenderly loves 

his children, and 
though far away 
from them, bears 
them always in his 
heart, I must warn 
you of the dangers 
that threaten 3'ou. 
The English intend 
to rob you of your 
couTiti-y ; and that 
they may succeed, 
they begin by cor- 
r u p t i n g 3' o u I- 
minds. As they 
mean to seize the 
Ohio, which be- 
longs to me, I send 
to warn them to 
retire." 

While Celoron 
was reading off his 
]iretty speech, half 
a dozen English 
traders were hid- 
den behind some 
bushes near by. 
One of them, a 
man named John 
Kingsley, wanted 
to shoot the leader 
of the French ex- 
pedition for his in- 
solence. Happily 
his companions 
had better sense 
and persuaded him to desist from his intention. 

Every precaution was taken by the French to protect themselves against 
a night attack, which Celoron thought he had reason to fear. This watchful- 
ness saved them, for it was afterwards ascertained that the Indians had laid 




FLOTILLA COMING DOWN THE ALLEGHENY. 



18 



plans to surprise the camp and institute a massacre, from wliich not a single 
Frenchman should escape. 

Next day Celoron and his party embarked again. 

However, it is uot our intention to follow the expedition any further, 
whicli, as has already been stated, was a failure from beginning to end. 

What has been related of it is sufficient for needs of the present history. 




19 



^l^aptep lY. 




AD tliere been anything like unity between the British colo- 
nies, the estabiisliiiient of trading posts and settlements along 
the Ohio, with a sufficient number of forts to protect them 
against the savages, would have been mere child's play, for the 
reason that the French were largely in the minority, and more- 
over were heartily disliked by all the Indian tribes west of the 
Allegheny mountains. 
Not even Pennsylvania and Virginia, the two colonies most interested in 
the settlement of the upper part of the Ohio Valley, were on friendly terms, 
and each did everything in its power to throw obstacles in the other's way. 
This ill-will, not to say hatred, between the two colonies, whose interests were 
identical, had its origin in a question of disputed boundaries. A large part of 
the country drained by the Ohio river, including the site of the future Fort 
Duquesne, was claimed by Pennsylvania as well as Virginia. Both colonies 
saw the importance of having at least one fortifioation erected close to the 
fork of the Ohio, from which the guns could sweep the outlets of the Allegheny 
and Monongahela rivers. But neither the Virginia nor the Pennsylvania 
assembly would appropriate the necessary funds for such a piii'pose, until the 
question of disputed boundaries had been settled. 

In the meantime, Galiissoniere had been succeeded by the Marquis 
Duquesne as Governor of Canada. 

While Duquesne found it impossible to gain the love of those under him, 
he compelled their respect. It may even be said that the Canadians hated him, 
but he showed such force of character, lofty ambition in the discharge of his 
duties, as well as excellent generalship and personal courage, that iiis com- 
mands were obeyed without a murmur. He had hardly grasped the reins of 
government when he made preparations to carry out the enterprise which his 
predecessors had failed to bring to a successful end, namely, the erection of 
fortifications on the Ohio river, and particularly the establishment of a strong 
fort at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela. 

The early spring of 1753 saw a force of nearly two thousand Canadians 
move southward to conquer and occupy the Ohio Valley. Two forts were 
built on the way, one at Presquisle, where Erie now stands, and one at French 
'Creek, which was called Fort Le Boeuf. The expedition under the command of 
Marin, a French officer of high repute, had set out with everything in its favor, 
but before it reached French Creek, fevers and lung diseases had made such 
havoc among the members of it, that Marin, who by that time was himself in a 

20 



dying condition, s;iw it would be useless to advance any farther. About four 
hundred of the best men were left to garrison forts Presquisle and Le Boeuf, 
and the rest were sent back to Montreal. 

Through traders and Indian scouts, Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, 
learned that the French had built forts on Lake Erie and French Creek, a branch 
of the AUogbenv river. He sent Major George Washington, Adjutant-General 
of the Virginia militia, with a message to Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, com- 
mander-of Fort Le Boeuf, charging the French with invasion of the territory of 
the King of England, and commanding the invaders to withdraw. Tnis 
mission, the futillment of which re()uircd as much personal courage as diplo- 
matic iinesse, was the start- 
ing point of the glorious 
military and diplomatic 
career of the father of this 
republic. 

While Major Washing- 
ton was treated with the 
greatest courtesy by the 
commandant of Fort Le 
Boeuf. tiiat officer firmly 
refused to withdraw his 
forces from the territory 
obtained by Governoi Din- 
widdie, as the domain of 
the King of England, 
unless he should receive 
orders to that effect from 
Marquis Duqursne. 

On his journey back to 
Williamsburg with Saint- 
Pierre's answer to Dinwid- 
die, Wasliington and his 
sole companion, Christo- 
pher Gist, the famous colo- 
nial interpreter and Indian 
scout, met with more 
adventures than would fill 
a volume. Traversing dense forests and fording swollen streams in mid- 
winter was in itselt an undertaking .that required great courage and an 
iron constitution, without taking into account the dangers that constantly 
threatened the lonely travellers, of being surprised by bands of savages. 
The day before they reached the banks of the Allegheny, and while wending 
their way around the base of a wooded hill, they were startled by the sharp 
rcjiort of a rifle, fired from behind some rocks they had just passed. The bullet 
whistled so close by Major Washington's ear, that he, almost involuntarily, 
put up his hand to tliat side of his head to feel whether he had been hit. Gist, 
without losing a second's time, ran back to the rocks and tliere found an 




GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



21 



Indian in the act of reloading liis gun. He got "the drop" on the savage, 
who was told to tlirow up his hands or die that instant. Gist would have 
killed the treacherous redskin, but Washington saved his life. The 
Indian declared that his gun had gone off by accident. To prevent another 
"accident" of the land, it was taken away from him, as well as his tomaiiawk 
and scalping knife. He was then told to get out of sight as fast as his legs 
would carry him, and our travelers again pursued their way, through mud and 
slush, ice and snow. 

This incident by which the future generalissimo of the colonial forces 
and liberator of the American people from the English yoke, came so near 
losing his life, that his escape seems the intervention of a divine providence, 
happened only a few miles from the northern limits of the present City of 
Allegheny. 

Next morning Washington and Gist saw the day break from the heiglits of 
what is now called Troy Hill. As it grew light, a panorama of unspeakable 
grandeur unfolded itself before their wondering gaze. As far as the eye 
could reach a succession of rugged snow-clad hills, resembling the white-capped 
waves of an angry ocean. At their feet, the Allegheny and Monongahela, 
swollen to almost double their natural size, and filled from shore to shore with 
great blocks of drifting ice, rushed to their place of meeting, united, and rolled 
on as a mighty stream, winding its way like an enormous serpent through the 
Valley of the Ohio. 

Gist led the way down the steep hill and through the primeval forest at its 
base. The weary travellers emerged from the dense woods a short distance 
below the present Milvale. 

There was a lot of drift wood strewn along the shore. They managed to 
construct a raft and launch it into the turbulent stream. But they were hardly 
ten yards from the shore, when the sweeping current caught the frail ci-aft, and, 
notwithstanding the almost superhuman efforts of the two strong men with their 
setting poles, carried it among a lot of heavy drift ice, where it burst asunder. 
Washington was precipitated into the freezing water, with his companion almost 
on top of him. Fortunately, there was a big flat cake of ice close by, and the 
two men, with great difficulty, struggled upon it. The swift current took tliem 
down the river, in spite of their efforts to reach the opposite shore. By a lucky 
accident their ice raft was driven against Herr's Island, and there they got oft. 
Wet to the skin, no dry clothes to put on, and no material with which to build 
a tire, it may be imagined that they spent a fearful night. But continuous 
exposure to all kinds of weather had so hardened the constitutions of both 
Washington and Gist, that, wonderful as it may seem, their terrible experience 
resulted in nothing worse than a slightly frost-bitten foot for Washington, 
and two frostbitten fingers for Gist. 

Next morning the river was frozen over solidly, and Washington and his 
companion crossed the river to the other shore on the ice. They reached 
Williamsburg in the latter part of January. 

Upon Washington's departure from Fort Le Boeuf, Saint Pierre at once 
dispatched a courier to the Marquis Duquesne with a message asking whether 
he should pay any attention to Dinwiddle's edict. In three weeks the messenger 



was back witli an answer from the Governor of ("anada. It was to llie effect 
that in tlie following spring a fort must be established at the forks of the Ohio, 
and that troops and Indians were already en route to reinforce the garrisons of 
the forts Le Coeuf and Presquisle. 

For several years the English had had permission fiom the Indians to erect 
a fortification at the confluence of the ^lonongahcla and the Allegheny, but, for 
reasons already stated, had not taken advantage of it. After Washington had 
left Williamsburg on his mission to Fort Le Boeuf, however. Governor Din- 
widdle saw the necessity of doing something, and ho dispatched Captain 
William Trent, at the head of a detachment of soldiers and workmen, to throw 
up a fortification at the forks. Trent arrived at the head waters of the Ohio on 
the 17th of February, 175-i. This is a great day in local history, for it marks the 
permanent occupation hj the whites of the neighborhood, and the foundation 
of the cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny. Work on the fort was commenced 
without delay. But the force was small and the weather severe, so that the 
work progressed slowly, and a whole month passed without seeing the fortification 
strong enough to resist an enemy so numerous as the French. 

At the opening of spring, as soon as the Allegheny became navigable, the 
I'rench concentrated their forces at Fort Le Boeuf, and, under the command of 
Captain Contrecoeur, the expedition embarked in over three hundred canoes and 
nearly one hundred batteaux and descended the Allegheny. The troops and 
Indians together numbered about one thousand men, and they carried sixteen 
pieces of cannon with them. They arrived at the forks on April 16th and 
peremptorily summoned Ensign Edward Ward, who was in command of the 
little garrison in the temporary absence of Trent, to surrender. To attempt a 
defense of the weak fort against such fearful odds would have been folly, and 
Ward surrendered under the condition that he would be allowed to retire with 
his little force unmolested. This was granted him, and the colonial troops 
marched out of the fortification in good order, went up the Monongahela and 
encamped on the site of the present Brownsville, in the neighborhood of which 
the Ohio Company had established a trading post. 

This was really the commencement of the bloody war between the French 
and English for supremacy in North America. 

The limits of this work will not permit of a lengthy account of that campaign. 
Suffice it to say that the war ended with the defeat and utter demoralization of 
the English forces, and French ascendency west of the AUeghenies. 



23 



^l^apter Y. 




^ REVIOUS to the occupation of the country about the head- 
waters of the Ohio by the French, a number of adventurers 
had invaded the territory west of tlie Aileghenies, and a few 
cabins were scattered about the primeval forest, from the mouth 
of Oil Creek to a point on tiie Ohio river where Sewickley now 
stands. The best known of tiiese was John Fraser, who had 
settled near the mouth of French Creek. There were two log 
houses on the site of the present Sharpsburg, and another in the neighborhood 
of wliat is now called Butchers' Run and within the limits of the present city 
of Allegheny, which was occupied by John Russell and his family, consisting 
of his wife and five children. 

When, after the Braddock campaign, in which Russell, fighting under the 
English flag, had been killed, the Indians broke loose from all restraint and 
bathed themselves in the blood of the helpless settlers, Mrs. Russell made 
preparations to flee with her children across the mountains. On a sultry 
afternoon in the early part of August all the arrangements for a hasty 
flight were completed. Russell had been the happy possessor of a horse 
and a cow, something of whicii few of the frontiersmen could boast at that day. 
The cow had to be left to its fate, much to Mrs Russell's sorrow, for she looked 
upon the docile animal almost as one of the family. 

The children, too, were very fond of the cow, and her lowing, as they caressed 
her on taking leave, was all but human in its distress, raising a fi'esh out- 
burst of grief from the members of the unfortunate family. 

The horse, a robust and steady animal, would be very valuable upon the 
journey. Two large, deep baskets, balancing each other, were slung across his 
broad back. In one were deposited the three youngest children, the oldest of 
whom was only five years, the other basket being tilled up with a sufiicient 
quantity of corn-bread and dried venison to last the family two weeks at least. 
About five o'clock the same evening the party started. 

Charley, the oldest boy, who was not yet fifteen, walked ahead with his 
father's rifle resting over his right shoulder. Mrs. Russell, leading the horse 
with its precious load came next. She carried a rifle slung across her back, while 
the horn handle of her dead husband's hunting knife could be seen protruding 
from the heavy leathern belt around her waist. Mrs. Russell was a woman of 
splendid physique, to whom the hardships and privations of frontier life had 
given the strength and courage of a man, without, however, robbing her of the 
softer instincts of her sex. She was a superb example of maternal affection and 

2i 



Wiitchfuliiess, ii!^, witli firm ami clastic treail slie walked bv tlif side (if the horse 
that carried her three smallest children, and divided her attention between them, 
keeping a sharp look to the right and left for any foe that might be lurking 
behind the trees of the forest. While she would fight for them like a tigress for 
her cubs, she prayed, as only a mother can pray, that an encounter with the 
savages might be spared them. 

Tiie rear of the procession was brought up by Tom, an eleven year old 
youngster with sturdy limbs and a perfect mane of tawny hair. 

Thus the little party journeyed on through the wilderness, following a 
narrow path (to all appearances an old Indian trail) which led in the direction 
of the river. 




KRILOUS JOtJENEY 



It was Mrs. Russell's intention to ford the Allegheny a short distance 
above the present Millvale, where the river, especially at this season of the 
year, was low and could be crossed without danger. They were just passing 
through a small clearing, when Mrs. Russell's sharp ear caught the sound of an 
owl-cry, which, as if in answer, was quickly followed by a half dozen others. 
To a person unlearned in woodcraft, the matter would have had no signifi- 
cance, but with Mrs. Russell, and even her young son, it was different. 

Charley came to a sudden stop and turned around to look at his mother. 
"The Indians!" he whispered. The woman nodded, and though her face 
had grown white as death at the first owl-cry, there was no sign of fear to be 
detected there'now. Quick as thought she had decided upon a plan of action, 
and leading the horse into the forest on the left of thy clearing, she motioned to 



the boys to follow. They had hardly reached the cover wlieu a dozen shots 
rang out from the other side of the opening. Little Tom uttered a cry of pain 
and sank down on the moss, tlio blood gushing from his left shoulder. Charley 
had not been hit. He grasped his brother around the wa'st and with the 
exertion of all his strength managed to carry him a little way into the woods, 
where for the moment they were safe from the bullets of the Indians. 

With great difiiculty Mrs. Russell succeeded in dragging the iiorse a short 
distance through the dense wood. The savages sent up a wild yell and charged 
across the opening. They numbered fifteen or twenty. Charley fired, and his 
bullet went crashing through the head of the foremost Indian. He was fully 
aware that no mercy would be shown them, and resolved to have the life of at 
least one of the savages. The next moment they were upon him. A dozen 
tomahawks were raised, but before they could descend the brave boy had 
buried the broad blade of his hunting knife in the abdomen of the nearest red- 
skin, who, with a terrific howl of pain went down on his knees, holding his 
hands over the wound to keep the entrails back. A second later the young hero, 
a true son of a fearless frontiersman, was literally hacked to pieces. Poor little 
Tom, who was so weak from loss of blood that he cmild not raise himself from 
the ground, shared his brother's fate. 

All this bloody work had 'consumed less time than is necessary to relate 
the circumstances. In fact, before Mrs. Russell knew what had befallen her 
two boys, their reeking scalps were already dangling from the belt of the leader 
of the band of savages. She had taken the three little ones fi'om the basket 
on the back of the horse and deposited them on the ground. She called to 
Charley and Tom to hurry up and get close to her. She did not know that Tom 
had been hit by a bullet and that her othei' boy was carrying his wounded 
brother, and for that reason making only slow progress. But now she heard 
Charley's shot and the blood-curdling yells of the savages, as they rushed into 
the woods. Mrs. Russell caught up her rifle, loosened the hunting knife in licr 
belt and quickly made her way back towaid the opening. She reached the 
horrible scene and saw what had hai:(pened. Without taking aim she fired into 
the midst of the Indians The ball went through the breast of one of the 
savages and entered the eye of another who was standing behind him. Both 
fell dead. The frenzied woman foi'got the children she had left unprotected. 
She oidy saw the mutilated bodies of her boys She clutched tlie end ot the 
barrel of her lifle, sprang forward and in another moment the third Indian bit 
the dust with shattered brains. The blow had been so terrific that it splintered 
the iieavy stock of the gun. Throwing it aside Mrs. Russell, who now resembled 
a wounded tigress more than a woman, tore the knife from her girdle and threw 
herself upon the nearest savage, burying the keen blade to the hilt in his dusky 
side. For a moment it seemed as if the woman, single handed, would put the 
whole band to flight, but now the Indians, who, from sheer surprise, mingled 
with awe, at the superhuman strength and prowess of the woman, had stood by 
and looked on without moving hand or foot, thronged around her with 
uplifted tomahawks. With a quick motion, the blood-dripping knife raised 
high above her head, Mrs. Russell turned from her last victim and was 

2C 



about to spring upon another savage, when she received a blow on tiie back of 
iier head witli the barrel of a rifle tliat felled her to the grf>uiid. 

When Mrs. Russell regained consciousness she found herself securely tied 
to a tree, facing the opening where shehad lately fought against such fearful 
odds. At first there was a blank in her memory regarding the circumstances 
which had brought her into that position. But the dull throbbing pain in her 
iiead and tlie scene she gazed upon as soon as she opened her eyes, soon brought 
to her mind with horrible vividness, everything that had happened. 

The black shadows of 
night had descended 
upon the forest. Not a 
star was to be seen. 
Like a funeral pall the 
murky clouds spread 
over the sky, and shut 
out the light of heaven. 
The very atmosphere 
foreboded evil; it was so 
thick and oppressive. 
All nature seemed in 
accord with the atro- 
cious scenes about to be 
iiiacted. 

The savages had ki ti- 
lled a fire in the center 
' if the clearing, by the 
ight of which Mrs. Rus- 
-ill saw the dusky forms 
move about like black 
icmons preparing for a 
tiast of cruelty. She 
knew that her three 
' hildren were to be tor- 
tured to death in her 
-ight. At that moment 
>lie heard them whini- 
I'cring for their mamma. 
( Ould words invented bv 
man describe the agony 
of that mother's heart? 
The anticipation of the 
fate of her children was 
already the most ex- 
quisite torture that even an Indian could devise. The woman made a desperate 
effort to burst lier bonds, but the only result was that the thongs with which she 
was tied to the tree, cut deeper into her flesh. 

Some of the Indians were now busy driving three stakes into the ground, 




INHUMAN TKKATMENT OF MRS. KL'SSELL. 



close to the fire and in full view of Mrs. Russell. This done, the three 
children,' stripped of all their clothes, were brought out and made fast to them. 
The four year old boy cried ])iteously for his mamma, but the two little girls, 
the youngest one a baby yet, had fallen asleep. Three of the savages stepped 
forward with their scalping knives, and a minute later, the three scalps 
were hanging from their belts. The mother gave a shriek, so piercing and 
full of agony, as to make the flesh creep of any one but an Indian. Then her 
head dropped on her breast. She had fainted. But the savages were not 
contented with what she had already suffered. They dashed cold water In 
her tace and brought her back to consciousness, to see her children slowly 
roasted to death. 

But the strain was too great for any woman to bear. When all was over, 
and Mrs. Russell was taken down, she was a raving maniac. The leader of the 
band of savages had at first thought ot claiming her as his squaw, but now 
he gave up that idea and was willing enough to part with her. Some of his 
followers wanted to burn her at the stake, but the majority were for tying her 
to the bare back of her own horse, and then chasing the animal into the forest, 
where her face and form would be torn by the bushes, brambles and the 
branches ot trees. This was done. However, the poor woman was not torn to 
pieces as intended, for the horse, after he had quieted down from the lashes 
with which the Indians had sent him off, slowly picked his way back to the log 
house, where he went under his shed and munched some hay still remaining in 
the manger from the day before. 

Samuel Bender and two other trappers, who had come to look after the 
Russell family and take them to a place of safety, found Mrs. Russell in that 
condition. She was almost dead when taken from the horse. A little brandy 
revived her, and she commenced to rave about what she had gone through. 

Mrs. Russell died two weeks later. She breathed her last in Samuel 
Bender's log house, which stood near the present Sewickley. Two hours before 
her death, her mind became perfectly clear again, and she was able to tell 
her terrible story. 



2S 



^l>apter VI. 




HE liutreci which the Indians bore toward the whites cannot be 
lugnrded as a sufficient cause for the relentless cruelty practiced 
by them on man, woman and child of the Caucasian race, with- 
out distinction to age or sex. However implacable and deep- 
seated that hostility may have been — and we must concede that 
there was reason for it — to the physiologist it cannot account iur 
the ecstacy of delight with which the red savage watched his 
pale-faced victim writhe in unutterable pain. The fact that the Indians did not 
torture their prisoners wiien the spj^-it of revenge was at white heat, like it 
would be directly after a conflict with the whites in which tliey had lost many 
of their best warriors, but waited weeks, and months sometimes, before puttino- 
them to death in the most heinous manner, shows that cruelty was practiced for 
cruelty's sake, and consequently that it is an inherent trait of the Indian 
character. 

An act of barbarity that stands, perhaps, without a parallel in pioneer his- 
tory, so far as the number of victims are concerned, was perpetrated by the 
Indian allies of the French a few days after Braddock's defeat, on the banks of 
the Allegheny river, opposite Fort Duquesne, and therefore within the limits of 
what is now the City ot Allegheny. About twenty-five prisoners had been 
brought to the fort by the Indians, among them three British officers. During 
the first days of their captivity they were treated so well and fed so plentifully 
that the prisoners began to believe their lives were not in danger. Their spirits 
rose accordingly, and some of them, much pleased with the beauty of the sur- 
rounding country, even made known their intention of bringing their families 
from the East, and settling in the vicinity, as soon as they had regained their 
liberty. 

On the sixth day of their capture, the prisoners noticed an unusual activitv 
about the fort. The Indians j)ut on fresh war-paint, and their blood-freezing 
scalp-yells rend the morning air. What did it mean ? Had the remnants of 
Braddock's army been rallied for another battle ? No ; that could not be 
for the French garrison did not stir ; on the contrary, the officers and 
soldiers of whom it was composed loitered about in undress uniform, smoking 
cigarettes or were sitting in the shade of the tall sycamore trees outside play- 
ing at cards. 

The doomed men were not kept long in suspense. One by one they were 
taken out to a place under the trees were stood a barrel tilled with some sticky 
black stufl' that bore a resemblance to tar. Here each prisoner was stripped 

29 



naked, his hands were bound behind him, and then the lower part of his body 
received a coat of the bhick paint. When they had all been dealt with in this 
fashion, they were marched to the bank of the Allegheny, surrounded by about 
three hundred yelling and dancing savages. 

It must not be imagined that the prisoners submitted quietly. They knew 
now what was to be their fate,and they resisted with hands and feet, having no other 
weapons to fight with. They did this in the hope of exasperating the red devils, 
so they would kill them on the spot. But it was of no avail. The Indian will 
not kill his victim if there is any chance to torture it to death at his leisure. 

While the Indians with their pi-isoners were embarking in a number of 
canoes that lay moored to the shore, the sound of axes echoed across the river, 
and on looking up, the white men saw that on the other bank a number of 
stakes had been driven in the ground in a long row, and that a band of savages 
were still busy in sharpening and driving in more. No wonder they turned 
pale, and that some of them groaned aloud in anticipation of the fearful tor- 
tures they would soon have to suffer. 

Half an hour later each prisoner was tied to a stake, and the torture began. 
Some were flayed alive, aud left to die that way; others were slowly tortured to 
death with fire-brands and red-hot irons, otliers again were roasted by so slow 
a process that their sufferings extended over hours. 

Three of the victims showed great fortitude, and after the first half hour 
had not emitted a single groan of distress. This exasperated the savages, who 
wanted to see them wince, and to have that gratification they applied a still 
more exquisite torture from any yet employed. First the three brave men were 
scalped and then live coals where laid on their heads. It had the desired result. 
When the quivering nerves of the brain came in contact with the hot coals the 
victims began to wimmer. The torture was more than any human being could 
bear. But under the circumstances it was the best thing that could have happened 
to them. Their sufferings were cut short, for fifteen minutes after the coals 
had been laid on their heads, they breathed their last. 

Such horrible cruelty will seem to many almost beyond belief, but the 
entire truth of the above statements are vouched for by Col. James Smith, who 
was himself at the time a prisoner at Fort Duquesne, and witnessed the beginning 
of the tortures from the wall of the fort. The sight was so hcrrible and the 
cries of the victims so heart-rending that Smith, at that period barely twenty 
years old, fainted and had to be carried below. Col. Smith ought to be trust- 
worthy authority. In 1778 he secured his commission. In 1788 he settled in 
Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was elected to represent his district in the 
State Assembly. 



30 



^I7aptci- VII. 




X Sept. 11, 1787, according to the Colonial Records, tlie Supreme 
Executive Council ot the Coniiiionwealth ofPennsjlvania ordered 
"The Reserve Tract opposite Pittsburgh" to be surveved and 
laid out as a uniuor. It was done during the year following. 
Allegheny Town, as it was afterwards called, was laid out in 144 
lots, measuring 60x240 feet each. Four large squares in the 
centre of the town were reserved for public purposes. Three of 
them are now occupied by public buildings, namely, (^ity Hall, Carnegie Library 
and the Market House. On the fourth, grass still grows, though not as luxuriant 
as of yore, on account of the cobble stones which have since been sown broad- 
cast over its surface. Haymarket Square is like a big wart on a woman's face, 
otherwise beautiful. It is an eyesore to every public spirited citizen. Several 
attempts have already been made to convert the square into something that 
would be a credit to the city, and to judge by the present outlook the friends of 
the scheme will succeed ere long. 

A common pasturage for cattle, containing 102 acres, surrounded the town 
as it was first laid out. Today these commons, converted into beautiful parks, 
and located in the very heart of the city, are the pride of Allegheny and the joy 
of its citizens. 

Allegheny county had not yet been born, but in the following year it came 
to life. Late in the fall of 1788, the Supreme Executive Council of the Common- 
wealtn ordered a new county to be created out of portions of Washington and 
Westmoreland counties, to be known as Allegheny county. The act further 
provided that the seat of justice should be located on the Reserve Tract opposite 
Pittsburgh. The resolution to that effect reads as follows: ^'■Resolved, Tliat the 
seat of justice be located on the said reserved tract, and that in the meantime 
until a court house and jail can be built on the said tract the courts shall be held 
in the town of Pittsburgh, and the Commissioners be empowered to rent a con- 
venient building for a court house and jailat the expense of the county.'" Ordered 
that the Messrs. Ross, Piper, Find ley, Brackeuridge, Fleniken, Gilchrist and 
Carson be a committee to bring in a bill agreeable to the foregoing resolution. 
On December 6, the committee reported a bill which was laid on the table. 
The bill went through a second reading. It was then printed for public con- 
sideration, but nothing furtlier was done with it at that session. Mr. Wright 
opposed it on the grounds that it was not only impracticable and inconvenient 
to have the seat of justice on the otiier side of the river, but, that by reason of 
the small population of Pittsburgh, then numbering about 500 souls, the expense 



31 



would be out of all proportion. The strongest and most logical argument — in his 
own opinion— which that acute gentleman advanced against the location of the 
county court and prison in Allegheny was that there would be nothing to com- 
mit to jail in the prospective town on the other side of the river, except an 
occasional wild beast. Mr. Wright dug the thorn of his satire yet deeper into 
the "site" of the future City of Allegheny by saying that he used the term 
"occasional," because even the creatures of the forest, so plentiful in every 
other direction around Pittsburgh, avoided that God-forsaken spot, where the 
Commonwealth intended to locate the county seat. 

As a matter of course the project of locating the county seat on the north 
bank of the Allegheny river met with a vehement opposition on the part of the 
citizens of Pittsburgh. This was quite natural, at the same time no excuse can 
be given for the highly colored and biased report sent by surveyor D. Kedick 
to the Supreme Executive Council, and giving a description or ratiier a mis- 
representation of the site selected for the new town. That document is more 
amusing than comprehensive, or instructive, or truthful. Here is a sample of 
Mr. Redick's descriptive power and the literary pyrotechnics he indulged in 
when composing an oiBcial report by which the Supreme Executive Council of 
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was to be guided in considering a bill of 
great importance : 

"I am of the opinion that if the inhabitants of the moon are capable of receiving the 
same advantages from the earth which -we do from the world, I saj-, if it be so, this same famed 
tract of land would afford a variety of beautiful lunar spots, not unworthy the eye of a philosopher. 
I cannot think tliat ten-acre lots on such pits and hills will possibly meet with purchasers, unless, 
like a pig in a poke, it be kept out of view." 

In the spring of 1789 a supplementary act was passed fixing the seat of 
justice for Allegheny County in Pittsburgh. 

The Reserve Tract was duly laid out as authorized by the Supreme Council, 
and given the name of Allegheny Town. It contained an area of about 3,000 
acres. The town for the present consisted of a solitary log house inhabited by 
William Robinson, the ferryman. It stood at the foot of the Franklin road, 
now Federal street, and is to-day represented on the Seal of the City of 
Allegheny. In this same cabin. General William Robinson, the son of the 
ferryman, was born December 17, 1785. It is claimed that General Robinson 
was the first white child born west of the Allegheny mountains, and while that 
historic honor may not belong to him, it is an undisputed fact that he has the 
distinction ot being the first child born on the site of the present city of 
Allegheny. 



32 



t^trnptev YIII. 




■*■ " V Allegheny town had been made the seat of justice for the 

coiintj, its growth would have been rapid. But the incentive 
to a speedy settlement of the new town was lost, and in the 
absence of any other stimulus to augment its population, it 
languished like a tree in unresponsive soil. The lots which had 
been sold by the state, were purchased principally by a few 
Revolutionary soldiers, who bought them for the purpose of 
speculation and not settlement. Naturally, their disappoint- 
ment was great, when the act locating the county courts in the new town was 
repealed. Although the lots had been bought at a ridiculous low figure, the 
owners now found it impossible to get rid of them at any price. No one could 
be found who believed in the future of Allegheny town, which, according to 
Surveyor Redick, furnished to the iniiabitants of the moon a splendid view of a 
variety of beautiful lunar spots. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that, 
for nearly thirty years following its foundation, the pace of Allegheny's growth 
and development was even less brisk than that of the proverbial snail. As has 
been stated, James Robinson, the father of General William Robinson, was the 
first permanent settler on the site of the City of Allegheny, and it is safe to say 
that he is the real founder of the town. He was the intrepid pioneer on the 
north side of the Allegheny river, who bid defiance to the wild beasts and hostile 
Indians, in the interest of civilization. We cannot but admire his undaunted 
courage in remaining at his post, where his own and the lives of his wife and 
children were in constant jeopai'dy, when he could have resided across the river 
in comparative security. 13ut to just such men our country owes its greatness, 
though they seldom get credit for it. To the rough pioneer, with his hardened 
frame, his contempt of danger, his fierce determination in overcoming seeming 
impossibilities, and withal his fear of God, civilization is more deeply indebted 
thaai to any other agenc\' exercised in its cause. 

The memoirs of James Robinson would make thrilling and instructive 
reading. Unfortunately, he has left no written records of his life to posterity. 
His personality has become a mere tradition even in his own family. The writer 
applied to the pioneer's great-grandson, now residing in Media, Pa., for informa- 
tion on. this point. In answer a communication was received of which the 
following is the quintescence: 

'•The first permanent settlement of the site of the city of Allegheny, as I 
have understood from tradition and history, was a log cabin in which my great- 
grandfather lived. It was almost on the site of the residence that my grandfather, 

33 



Gen. Win. Robinson, occupied for eighty-five years, and which was torn down 
about fifteen years ago. I have heard my grandfather say that his mother was 
attacked by Indians at one time and the defense was made in this cabin. I 
believe there is a picture of it used in the seal of the city of Allegheny." 

While there is little or nothing known of the life of James Robinson, 
the career of his distinguished son, William, is familiar to all those who take an 
interest in local history. A short biographical sketch of the man, who was so 
closely identified with the growth and development of the city ot Allegheny, 
cannot be amiss at this place. 

He was born on the 17th day of December, 1785, in the log cabin, the 
picture of which is now used on the seal of the city of Allegheny. His early 
youth was spent amid surroundings better calculated to endow him with a spirit 
of adventure and a predeliction to manly sports, than to create a love for boo' s 
and learning. His mother, however, a woman of considerable education and 
refinement, had set her heart on the boy receiving a classical training to fit him 
for the study of law. Her crowning wish was to see him, some day, a great 
barrister. She began early to teach him the art of reading and writing. WilliaTU 
was not a precocious ch/!d. During his boyhood he displayed no special marks 
of mental brightness or lOve of learning His Latin grammar haunted him in 
his dreams. Euclid was the hete noir of his early life. The irregular Greek 
verbs almost drove him to suicide, and ancient history bored him beyond 
endurance, as he afterwards used to tell his friends. It seems that the only 
thing he distinguished himself by at the age of twelve, besides being already an 
excellent marksman with the rifle, was the avidity with whicii he devoured the 
"dime" literature of the period, compared with which our modern "Deadwood 
Dick," "Rattlesnake Dan" and goose-skin begetting detective stories are 
classical reading. It is said that young William was once caught by his father 
poring over a yellow-covered composition entitled, ''Jim, the One-eyed Horse- 
thief," and was so deeply interested in the daring adventures and hair-breadth 
escapes of the hero of the story, that he did not perceive the approach of his 
parent until the latter had freed his loins of a strong leather belt and vigorously 
applied the same to that part of the youngster's anatomy which shall be 
nameless. 

It seems that this thrashing, which must have been an uncommonly sound 
one, to judge by its salutary efi:ect, mai'ks a new era in the early life of William. 
When we hear of him again, he is a studious lad of sixteen, who has relegated 
"Jim, the One-eyed Horse-thief" and other heroes of his ilk to Limbo, and applies 
himself seriously to the business of acquiring a classical education. A year or 
two later he entered Princeton College, where after taking a full course, he gradu- 
ated, taking the first honors of his class. He then read a full course of law with 
James Ross, the eminent barrister. The young man was now well qualified to enter 
upon the duties of his profession and make a name for himself in the annals of legal 
lore. But it seems that by the time he was ready to practice law, he had lost 
all taste for the profession, to which he had looked forward with so much delight 
and to excel in which he had equipped himself at the cost of so much arduous 
mental labor. Politics fascinated him, and henceforward politics were his 
favorite occupation. He was ambitious to hold high public office, but in this he 

34 



was tloomed to disappointment. He was, indeed, well qualified to hold anv 
office in the gift of the Commonwealth, or even the nation, but he was altogether 
lacking in one quality, without which no man can hope to gain the suffrages of 
the people, no matter how brilliant may be his parts or how well fitted he may 
be to occupy a high public position. General Robinson was devoid of the art 
of making himself (wpular. He was of too positive a nature to be successful in 
his political aspirations. He did not understand that in order to gain the good 
will of the majority of men one must give way to their opinions, no matter how 
absurd they sometimes may be. His austere and dictatorial manner and his high 
temper, alienated even those friends from him, who, had he treated them 
differently, would have exerted ail their influence in favor of his political 
preferment. His election to the chief magistracy of Allegheny, when that 
borough was created a city in 18i0, he owed to the prestige of being the son of 
the first permanent settler of the town and the first white child that was born 
within its limits. 

Gen. Robinson suffered much in the esteem of his fellow-citizens when he 
allowed himself to become entangled in the disreputable project of Aaron Burr, 
relating to the conquest of Alexico. It is, however, only justice to say that Gen. 
Robinson was led to take part in that scheme, by misrepresentation as to its 
principal object. 

Gen. Robinson inherited a large and valuable property on the death of his 
father. It was situated within the present limits of Allegheny. Its value 
augmented with the growth and prosperity of the city. The best part of the 
property was laid out in lots and called, "Buena Vista." The streets by which 
it was intersected were named after the battles of the Mexican war. It cannot 
be questioned that Gen. Robinson, especially during the last two decades of his 
eventful life, was largely instrumental in bringing about an era of prosperity in 
his native place, such as had never before been experienced by Allegheny. 
During that period the population of the town almost doubled, mainly in con- 
sequence of the various industrial establishments which sprang up on all sides, 
and of the majority of which he was the projector. He was also a heavy stock- 
holder in the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad, now the Pittsburgli, Fort Wayne 
and Chicasro Railroad, of which he was the promoter and first President. He 
was also the first capitalist to invest his money in the construction of a bridge 
over the Allegheny river. 

His political ambition, however, was never gratified. He had been Mayor 
of Allegheny, President of Select Council, in which branch he served from 18i9 
to 1856, and was elected to the State Legislature for one term. These places 
he regarded simply as stepping-stones to higher political office. But for reasons 
already stated, he was unsuccessful in his aspirations. Gen. Robinson died on 
the 25th day of February, 1868. 



35 



^l7aptcr IX. 




HE first means of communication between Pittsburgh and 
Allegheny was the ferry-boat owned by William Robinson, the 
father of General Robinson. This dates back to 1785. As the 
subject of early trans-river traffic is an interesting one we shall, 
in this chapter, quote at length from a paper read by Hon. John 
E. Parke before the Old Residenters' Association on " Ancient 
and Modern Ferries on the Ohio, Monongahela and Allegheny 
Rivers." 
" As early as 1786 Col. William Butler, was granted, by Act of the State 
Legislature, the right to establish a ferry on the Allegheny river, from a point 
on the Pittsburgh side to a point opposite, to where the line of Bank Lane would 
strike the Allegheny at what is now the mouth of School street. The nature of 
the ground at this point was deemed altogether unsuitable for a landing ; and 
representation having been made to the authorities to that effect, on considera- 
tion thereof, it was ordered and decreed by the Supreme Executive Council, that 
the " said grantee be authorized and empowered to establish a landing, and 
erect a ferry-house, upon such other part of the ' Reserve Tract opposite Pitts- 
burgh ' as will best promote the convenience of the residents and the intentions 
of the Legislature as set forth in the Act granting the same. He is also per- 
mitted to occupy such land as has been improved and hitherto cultivated by 
James Boggs, deceased, for which privilege he shall exercise a supervisory care^ 
so as to prevent the undue destruction of the timber of the Reserve Tract above 
referred to. 

"In pursuance of the authority given, the ferry was established at the mouth 
of St. Clair, (now Sixth street) to the month of Federal street directly opposite. 
Col. Butler, it seems, disposed of his interest to Robert Knox and John Morri- 
son ; the former conducting affairs on the Pittsburg side and the latter on the 
Allegheny side. They were succeeded by Robert Stewart and Mr. Battrocks. 
Mr. Cassidy succeeded the latter. LTnder Messrs. Stewart and Cassidy the 
ferry was carried on until the completion of the Allegheny bridge in 1820. 

"There was an ancient ferry established from a point a short distance below 
the railroad viaduct, Allegheny, to the mouth of Hand street, (now Ninth) 
Pittsburgh. It was carried on by Mr. Yerkins, under the management of David 
Haney, an old and experienced waterman, and continued in operation until 
about the year 1830, when it was abandoned. 

"In 1834 Mr. George A. King established a wire-rope ferry from the mouth 
of Hancock street (now Eighth), Pittsburgh^ to a point about midway between 

36 



Sandusk}' aiul Anderson streets, Alleglieiiv. Tlic amount of travel not justify- 
ing its continuance, it was abandoned the following year. 

"About the beginning of the present century, a ferry, operated by hand, was 
established by West Elliott on the Ohio river, from the mouth of Ferry Lane, 
North Side, from which the lane derived the name, to a point on the South 
Side, immediately opposite. 

"At this point the great buftalo-trails from the south-east to the feeding 
grounds on the northwestern plains connected, over which the various Indian 
tribes roamed to and fro in their periodical visits in order to concoct and perfect 
their nefarious scliemes to crush out their indomitable Anglo-Saxon foe. This 
undertaking, not proving profitable, was, after a short experience, abandoned. 

"In 1S32 Mr. Nolan established a ferry at the points above referred to, 
operated by a wire rope, and buoys to support the same. It proving detrimen- 
tal to the free navigation of the river, and dangerous to those operating it, it 
was also subsequently abandoned. Capt. Valentine Shorts succeeded Mr. 
Nolan, and operated the ferry by horse-power for a number of years quite suc- 
cessfully. In the meantime Capt. Stoops established a steam ferry from the 
mouth of Chartiers street to a point on the South Side above the mouth of Saw- 
mill run. 

"The perils encountered during storms, floods, floating ice and driftwood by 
the early mode of transit across the Allegheny river were of a very serious char- 
acter ; and many who had the temerity to brave the dangers, had abundant 
reason to regret it ere they reached the desired haven. Some of the incidents 
are so deeply impressed upon my memory that the lapse of over sixty years has 
failed to obliterate them. 

"Early in the month of December, 1817, the river was frozen over with a 
coating of ice about two and one-half inches thick. At tiiis time, in company 
with my elder sister, on a visit to our friends in Pittsburgh, we took passage on 
the ferry boat crowded with passengers and horses — it being the intention of 
the ferryman to open a passage through the ice to the other shore. When 
about midway over, the ice parted from the shore and commenced breaking up, 
making a clear breach over the low sides of the boat, creating a fearful panic 
among the passengers and horses. The massing of the ice in and around the 
boat rendered our situation perilous, and efi"orts to reai,-Ii either shore unavailing, 
and all attempts on the part of our friends to aid us proved a failure. Passing 
the "Point" the rapid current of the Allegheny carried us to within a short 
distance of the southern shore of tiie Ohio, which enabled us to make a landing 
just above the month of Saw-mill run. To the experience and presence of 
mind displayed by the ferryman, David Haney, and his comrade, may be 
attributed the happy termination of an adventure, which might have, under 
other circumstances, ]>roved fatal to all on board. 

"During the summer of 1S33, returning from a visit to tiie South Side, I 
met my military friend. Major Andrew McFarland, arrayed in all the pomp and 
circumstance of his official character as brigade inspector, en route to inspect 
the troops belonging to his brigade. Arriving at the Johns ferry-landing, we 
boarded the hook-boat, John Welsh acting in the capacity of engineer, pilot and 
chief commander. All aboard being announced, we started for the opposite 



shore, full of passengers and a large load of hay. The day was calm and clear, 
iinportentious of any elementary disturbance. About midway of the stream, a 
violent wind storm arose, which rendered the boat unmanageable and demoralized 
onr brave commander, who, usually calm and self-possessed, on this occasion 
entirely lost his luind. Johnny was a peculiar character, mentally weak, but 
honest and faithtul in the discharge of his duties, peaceful in his habits and 
disposition. Those who knew him best gave him full credit for his integrity 
and goodness of heart. 

"The roaring wind, tumultuous waves of the otherwise placid river, and 
struggling horses, created a scene of teirorand dismay not easily described. In 
the emergency Major McFarland seized the tiller, in order, if possible, to con- 
trol the movements of the vessel. In his laudable effort to accomplish it, he 
had the misfortune to lose his military hat. Finding it out of question to reach 
either shore, he directed the course of the vessel up the river until it caught on 
one of the piers of the bridge. Here we remained until the storm abated, 
when- we commenced working our way to the landing at Liberty street, where 
we arrived without serious damages. Upon leaving the boat, the Major, after 
giving vent to a deep sigh, remarked in his peculiar manner, "that a load of hay 
was an awful thing in a high wind."' 

The absolute necessit}' of a bridge to accommodate the trafHc between 
Pittsburgh and Allegheny, if the latter place was intended ever to become more 
than a straggling village, was evident to everybody who took an interest 
in the growth and prosperity of the new town On several occasions the public 
spirited citizens of Allegheny met to discuss ways and means for spanning the 
river with a substantial structure. It seems, however, that those who had the 
means, were unwilling to risk»their money in such an enterprise, probably 
because the trans-river traffic on the Allegheny was, for the present at least, not 
heavy enough to pay interest on the capital invested. Finally, Gen. William 
Robinson, always to the front where the honor and prosperity of his native town 
was concerned, took the matter in hand and succeeded in forming the Allegheny 
Bridge Company with a paid-up capital of $80,000. This company was granted 
a charter by the Legislature on the 17th of February, 1816, which was approved 
by the Governor on the 31st of the month following. On July 8, 1816, the 
company was organized and the officers elected. Gen. Robinson was made 
President. The Board of Directors consisted of James Adams, James Anderson, 
Abner Barker, Robert Campbell, Thomas Cromwell, John Darrah, Hugh Uavis, 
Ebenezer Denny, William Hays, George Poe, Jr., and A. Zeigler. 

The work on the bridge was commenced, and finished early in February, 
1820. On the 20th of the same month it was opened for travel. The cost of 
construction was about $85,000. In 1857, when through wear and tear and the 
action of the elements it had become unsafe, the company obtained a supplemeiit 
to the charter, authorizing the demolition of the wooden structure o,nd the erec- 
tion of the suspension bridge, which now connects Sixth street with Federal 
street. Its cost was $250,000. It was the first iron suspension bridge erected 
over a navigable stream in this country. It made its builder, John A. Roebling, 
famous, and will, as long as it lasts, be a monument to his genius and engineering 
skill. The State of Pennsylvania subscribed one-half of the stock for the 
construction of the first bridge, the par value per share being $25. In 1843 this 
stock was sold and taken up at $32 per share. 

38 



^Japter X. 




HE extraordinary slow progress and tlie inactivity which char- 
acterized the town ot Allegheny for thirty years after its founda- 
tion may be ascribed to several causes. 

During the first two decades tlie insecurity of life and prop- 
erty undoubtedly was the principal reason for the sluggishness 
in the increase of population. The fear of Indians was at first 
the great obstacle in the way of a rapid settlement. In those days it required 
both courage and circumspection to live on the North Side. The rifle and hunt- 
ing-knife were as indispensable to the early inhabitants of .Allegheny town as 
the ax and the plow. Going out to fell trees or to plant corn without being 
armed, would have been considered extreme foolhardiness. The Indians were 
always on the alert to slay and to rob. They were continually lurking about in 
he neighborhood of the settlement, waiting for an opportunity to raid an un- 
garded cabin and to take the scalps of women and children who had been left 
to themselves. Of course, most of the attacks were made under cover of the 
night but sometimes, when they were in large numbers, and it could be done 
with little risk, the red marauders would commit their bloody depredations in 
broad daylight. 

A daylight attack was once made on the cabin of Wm. Robinson, the ferry- 
man, while he was taking some passengers across the river. His wife was busy 
preparing the noonday meal. The children, among them William, then a sturdy 
boy of eight, were playing in the grass not far frcnn the cabin, impatiently 
awaiting the sound of the dinner-horn. Suddenly tiie little girl, next to William 
in age, who had been watching a butterfly flatter towards the forest which form- 
ed the background to the log house, jumped to her feet and pointing her finger 
in that direction exclaimed : " I see a man with feathers on his head."' Young 
William had heard his father saj- that the only good Indian was a dead Indian, 
and from that thesis he quite correctly drew the s^'llogistic demonstration that 
all live Indians were full ot mischief. Consequentlj'. when he recognized a red 
man in the object pointed out by his sister, he said hurriedly, " let's run to the 
house," and suiting his action to his words, ran to the cabin, followed by the 
other children. 

Mrs. Robinson did not faint when she heard ot the Indian, but, like the 
true wife of a pioneer that she was, dropped the frying-pan, grasped a rifle that 
was always ready loaded for her own use, and hastened out to close up and bar- 
ricade the opening in the pallisades, which, raised to a height of twelve feet, 
surrounded the cabin and made it proof against any sudden attack of savages. 

39 



This done, she returned to the house and calmly proceeded with the preparation 
of dinner. 

She was to be interrupted again, however. The Indian, seen by the chil 
dren, was the scout of a small band of Iroquois savages, who had been lurking 
about for some days, watching for a good chance to raid tiie Robinson cabin and 
carry off the scalps of the wiiole family if possible. Hitherto their designs had 
been frustrated by the watchfullness of the inhabitants of the log-house. The 
ferryman and his two helpers took turn about in standing watch at night, well 
knowing that eternal vigilance was the price of their scalps. The red-skins 
finally grew impatient and decided to venture a daylight attack. If they could 
creep up to the cabin while the men were away on the river, without being seen, 
and get on the inside of the pallisades, before the entrance could be barricaded, 
the inmates would be at their mercy. When the Indian, who had been spied 
by the sharp eyes of the little girl, saw the children run for the house, he gave 
a grunt of rage and quickly disappeared in the woods. A few minutes later ten 
savages with murder gleaming in their eyes were crawling on hands and knees 
through the tall grass in the direction of the cabin. They reached the pallisades 
without being seen. A young brave, who, probably had not won his spurs yet and 
thought this a good opportunity to gain them, motioned to his companions that 
he wanted to be the first one to scale the palisades, a privilege which was 
readily granted him. He divested himself of his rifle and taking his knife in 
his teeth climbed to the top of the pallisades with the help of two other Indians 
who had formed themselves into a living ladder. Hardly, however, had his 
iiead appeai-ed above the enclosure, when the sharp report of a rifle rang out 
from the inside, and the daring young warrior fell back with shattered brains. 
Mrs. Robinson had fired the shot. There was no need for another. The savages 
hastened back to the shelter of the woods without making any more attempts to 
get inside the pallisades. In their hurry to get away they even left tiieir dead 
comrade behind. 

A short time after Mr. Robinson returned from his trip across the river. He 
liad heard the report of the rifle and surmised tliat there was something wrong. 
Aftei' inspecting the scene of the late conflict and ascertaining the number of 
Indians involved, which to his practiced eye was evident frojn the trampled 
grass on the spot where the savages had attempted to gain an entrance, he 
crossed over to Pittsburgh again and organized a search party to go in pursuit of 
the Indians. However, they had too great a start over their pursuers and the 
latter returned after a fatiguing search of several days without a single scalp. 

The foregoing event occured in the early summer of 1795, when the " Reserve 
Tract opposite Pittsburgh" already bore the euphonious and alluring name of 
Allegheny town. The entire population then, consisted of three families. 
About half a mile up the river from Robinson's ferry-landing, stood a log-cabin 
occupied by John Kelly, his wife and four children. Kelly was a jolly Irishman 
in wliose affection the whisky-bottle seems to have held a larger place than his 
family. He was a wood-cleaver by occupation, and it is related of him that he 
used to stay sober and work hard for a whole month in order to be able to indulge 
in a full week's "spree". For that purpose he would go to Pittsburgh, get his 
pay and "blow it in" like a sailor just returned from a year's cruise. On more 

■io 



than one occasion, wlu'ii Kelly was in Pitfsbuigli on one of liis periodical fire-water 
excursions, did Allegiieny town stand in imyiinent danger of losing one of its 
citizens, which, considering that there were but three heads of families in the 
place, would certainly have been a serious blow to its population. Once lie 
exchanged costumes with a friendly Indian who had assisted him in consuming 
large quantities of bad whisky. His face painted in bright red and yellow, his 
iiead crowned with a great bunch of eagle-feathers, and the upper part of his 
body bare to the waist, honest Kelly, who, as long as there was no fight in sight 
was the best natured man in the world, looked as savage as any Iroquois that 
ever went on the war-path. After parading town for a while in this attire, the 
pseudo Indian and the metamorphosed red-skin, who looked not less ridiculous 
in the ragged coat, the much patched, parti-colored pantaloons, and the heavy 
l)ootsofthe Irishman, steered an unsteady course for the bank of the river, 
where, on a spot amid the willows that grew there in profusion, they intended 
to sleep off the fumes of the liquor. After uttering a succession of blood-curdling 
war-whoops, Kelly had gotten into a reflective mood. He dimly recollected 
that his money was all spent. It was time for him to go home and go to work. 
He had been entreated by his wife to purchase several articles which were urgently 
needed in the household. This he had neglected, as he always did. Though he 
was drunk he felt some remorse. He reeled up close to the hank of the river 
and vacantly stared into the water, a sad smile playing about his lips as he 
thought of the people who did not have to chop wood for a living. It was a 
bi'ight, sunny day. The Allegheny, clear and limpid, reflected the objects near 
the river and the sky above as true as a mirror. Kelly suddenly became aware that 
a ferocious-looking Indian, liis face twisted into a horrible sneer, was staring u]) 
at him. This was too much for our friend. Exclaiming, "Be the sowl of me 
father, I'll tache ye manners, ye feather-headed divil!" he leaped on to his own 
image with clenched fists, and, being unable to swim, would have drowned, had 
not his copper-colored companion come to the rescue, who gallantly plunged 
into the water and, after a great deal of hard work, managed to land his friend 
Kelly on terra firma again. 

About 1798 the population of Allegheny town received an addition 
by the advent of the Getty family, of which Richard Getty was the head. He 
built himself a log-cabin near the bank of the river, a short distance east of the 
terry -landing. The abundance of splendid timber within a stone's throw from 
his door led him into the business of boring pumps. In Pittsburgh he found a 
ready market for the product of his labor. Getty had seen better days. He 
was the son of an Irish country gentleman, had taken a too prominent part in 
jiolitics on the wrong side, and to save his head was forced to leave his native 
land and flee to America. Some of his descendants are residing in AUeglienv 
to this day. Mrs. Graham, the wife of 1). F. Graham, night Superintendent of 
one of Allegheny's largest iron mills, is one of them. 



41 



^apter XI. 



IKE the rest cf the world, Alleglieny town was ushered into the 
nineteeiitl) century when the eventful eighteenth had breathed its 
last. But unlike the rest of the world, which, with the young 
blood of a new century infused into its arteries, was advancing 
J|^ and expanding in material and intellectual wealth, the town of 
hr-"'^~~^ Allegheny reinainod in statu quo. Emigrants from the Old World 
P were pouring into Pennsylvania by the thousand, a great number 

' of them coming to tlie wtjstern part of the State and many settling 

in I'ittsburgh, but Allegheny was given the cold shoulder. The place offered 
no inducements to the emigrant who iiad come over with means just sufficient 
to pay for his passage, and those enn'grants were then, as now, in the great 
majority. The few who brought a sum of money witii them large enough to 
purchase a piece of land or to go into some business, naturally preferred 
Pittsburgh. It already was a firmly established community. It was the 
coun'y-seat. It had schools and churches, and its mercantile and manufacturing 
interests were rapidly expanding. In short, Pittsburgh was a thriving town, 
and boasted a considerable number of substantial dwelling liouses, when 
Allegheny had not yet emerged from its log-cabin days. 

In the early spring of 1808, a man made his appearance in Alleglieny 
town, who was destined to be the cause of the first impetus ever given to the 
growth of tlie population of Allegheny. Tiiis was Henry Rickenbach, a native 
of Switzerland, who had come to America to see for himself how much truth 
there was in the stories told in his country about the rapidity and ease with 
which wealth could be acquired in the New World. He had brought a 
considerable sum of money with him, which he intended to invest in land or 
some business that would promise large returns. He had left his famdy 
behind, but meant to Turing them over as soon as he had found a permanent 
place of settlement. 

It is probable that the cheapness of land and his belief in the future of the 
town, induced Rickenbach to settle in Allegheny. At any rate, he pnrcliased a 
large piece of ground and at once set to work to build himself a substantial log 
house. This house stood on wliat is now the northeast corner of Voeglitly 
street and River avenue. 

At the end of three years, Rickenbach had everything in shape for the 
reception of his family. He went back to Switzerland after his wife and 
children. While there, he induced the Voeglitly family to immigrate with him. 
Through the Rickenbachs and Voeghtlys, quite a number of other Swiss 
families came to America and settled in Allegheny. 

42 



In 1815 Allegheny town had assumed a more lively aspect. Its population 
numbered now about forty families, and for the next ten years it steadily 
increased, until in 1828, when it rose to the dignity of a borough, it was a 
thriving town of 4,000 inhabitants. A great many people who did business in 
Pittsburgh and had formerly lived there, now made their home in Allegheny, 
because it was a healthier and cleaner place to live in. 

The first industry born in Allegheny was that of rope making. The iirst 
rope walks west of the Allegheny mountains had been established in Pittsburgh 
in 1794 by Col. John Irwin. In 1813 the works were removed to Allegheny. 
They were located on a ten-acre out-lot bounded by the West Commons, 
Western avenue, out-lots 275. 29 and 30. Mr. Irwin carried on tlie business 
alone until 1835, when he took his son, Henry, into partnership. In 1836 the 
works were burnt down, and after they had been rebuilt they were again 
destroyed by fire. The factory was again rebuilt and the business carried on 
until 1858, when it was abandoned. Some years later the machinery was 
removed to Smoky Island. But only a few weeks after the works had been put 
in operation, they were again visited by a disastrous fire and leveled to the 
ground. That ended their career. 

Allegheny's first establishment for the manufacture of iron, was the Juniata 
Rolling Mill, built in 1826 by Henry Blake, Sylvanus Lothrop and James 
Anderson. It was located on Robinson street. The mill having been 
constructed for the exclusive use of blooms, but in 1834, when the establishment 
was sold to John Bissell, William Morrison and Edward W. Stephens, it was 
extended and the puddling and boiling process brought into use. Just before 
the War of the Rebellion, the works were dismantled and the machinery moved 
to some place in Ohio. 

This was the extent of the industrial development of Allegheny on tiie eve 
of its incorporation as a borough. 




43 



^aptep XII. 




=_, LLEGHENY was made a borough bj the Act of the General 
Assembly, approved April 14, 1828. The boundaries of the new 
borough were described as follows: Beginning on the bank of 
the Allegheny river, corner of East lane ; thence by the 
northeast line of that lane to the northwest line of the Butler 
turnpike; thence along the same to the line between out-lots 
140 and 145; thence north 14° west by the line between lots 
140, 145, 141, 144, 142, 143 to the high rough tract granted by 
patent to James O'Hara, May 5, 1789; thence by the same 
76° west to lot 148; thence north 14° west by the line of the out-lots 148, 149 
and 150 to the northeast corner of outlot 150; thence south 76° west by the 
line dividing out-lots 150, 151, 174, 175, 182 and 183 to the northeast line of 
Pasture lane, now Irwin avenue; thence by the same south 14° east to the 
northwest corner of Water lane, now Western avenue ; thence by the same 
south 76° west to the southwest corner of Ferry lane, now Beaver avenue; 
thence by the same south to the Ohio river. 

In 1838 the boundaries of the borough of Allegheny were changed by Act 
of General Assembly, as follows: 

Beginning at a point on the Allegheny river where Sawmill run empties 
into said river; thence by the centre of said run northwardly to the point where 
it strikes the northern line of out-lot No. 142; thence west by the said line of 
out-lots 142 and 143 soutii 76° to out-lot 148; thence north 14° west by the east 
line of out-lots 148, 149 and 150 to the northeast corner of the latter; thence 
south 76° west by the dividing line between out-lots 150, 151, 174, 175 and 183 
to the northeast line of Pasture lane, now Irwin avenue; thence by the same 
northwardly to Island lane, now Washington avenue; thence westwardly by 
the north line of said Island lane to a sti-eet running southwardly between 
out-lots 251, 250, 257 and 256; thence south by the west line of said street to 
Ohio lane, now Pennsylvania avenue; thence by the north line of said lane to 
Fulton street, the dividing line between out-lots 261, 262, 270 and 269; thence 
by the west line of said street to Water lane, now Western avenue; thence by 
the northern line of Water lane to the southwest line of Ferry lane, now 
Beaver avenue; thence by the same south 14° east to the Ohio river; thence by 
the same and the Allegheny rivei' by the several courses of the same to the 
place of beginning. 

From now on Allegheny grew steadily. During the next ten years it more 
than doubled its popoulation. Manufacturing establishujents multiplied. 
There was a popular demand for better educational facilities, and the demand 
was satisfied. Everywhere signs of new life and prosperity became visible, 

44 



and ill 1840, when the town developed into a city. Aiicglieny was fairly swrted 
on the road to its future greatness. 

The Fire Department of Allegheny was burn in IS.'i^;. The ordinance by 
which it was created is worthy of reproduction: 

"Be it ordained and enacted by tiie Burgess and Council of Allegheny, 
that annually hereafter each of the different Fire Companies of Allegheny, shall, 
on or before the 15th day of January, in each year, report the names of eight 
persons to the Council, of whom four shall be elected at the election of tiie 
other Borough officers, for each company, to serve one year, and until others 
be elected, and in failure of the Fire Companies recommending individuals for 
Fire Wardens, then the Council shall proceed, without such recommendation, 
to elect the said Wardens, four for each company, and the Wardens so elected 
shall wear on their hats a distinguishing badge and also a stuflT of officer; they 
shall be present at all the fires in the Borough and preserve the apparatus from 
wilful injury, direct the protection of private property, and remove the crowd 
or any other obstruction that may impede the successful o])erations of the 
firemen. 

"That annually iiereafter. at the time of electing Borough officers, the 
Council shall elect one suitable person as Bell Kinger, whose duty it shall be to 
ring the bell at such times as the Council may direct, sweep the rooms and 
light fire and candles in the Council room at such times as the Town Clerk may 
direct. lie shall also take charge of the engine and hose belonging to the 
Borough, and shall c:irefully preserve and clean the apparatus, or any part 
thereof, as often as he may be required so to do by the Captains of the different 
companies; for all of which duties he shall be entitled to the yearly compensation 
of sixty dollars, to be paid in quarterly payments." 

This amusing document is signed by John Tassy. Jr'resident of Council, 
and Hugh Davis. Burgess. Between his duties and drawing his salary the 
Bell Ringer must have had a hard time of it. He has, however, the honor of 
being the first person ever paid in Allegheny for doing work connected with 
the fire department. Had he been a child of our own times, he would, in all 
probability, not have been satisfied with that distinction, great and honorable 
as it seems, but would at once have asked for less work and more pay. 

The tire extinguishing apparatus in those days consisted of a coil of hose 
on a portable pump, which was dragged to the scene of action by the citizens. 
Until shortly before the Borough of Allegheny was incorpoiated into a city, 
there were no persons paid for any part they took in helping to put out a fire. 
The system of volunteer fire department was continued untill 1848, when the 
citv purchased four machines. Four hosemen were employed for each machine. 
Their pay was one dollar for each fire they attended. 

In the following year the firemen's riot occurred, a dark page in the 
history of Allegheny. The firemen were discontented because Councils refused 
to increase the annual appropriation for the department. They presented a 
memorial to that body, setting forth their grievances. The memorial was 
couched in the most disrespectful language. Notwithstanding that fact, 
Councils appointed a committee to confer with the men. But no agreement 
could be arrived at. Matters grew from bad to worse, and the crisis was 

45 



reached on July 16. On that day lire broke out in the carpenter shop of Henry 
Charles, located on the south side of Gay alley, between Arch street 
and the Diamond. The shop was soon a mass ot flames. The fire 
crossed the alley to the Dewdrop property, and from there spread 
to buildings on Arch and Ohio streets and the Diamond The Presbyterian 
Dlnirch was burned to the ground. The tiames could have been eas ly 
controlled and confined to the east side of Arch street, had not the 
firemen carried out their threat. On the first alarm the firemen hastened to 
their respective engine houses, to prevent the citizens from taking out the 
engines. They were determined to let the whole city burn down before they 
would allow an engine to be taken out. The Pittsburgh firemen came out to 
fight the fire, but their hose was cut by the rioters and rendered useless. 
Fortunately there was almost a calm that day, or the conflagration would have 
been much more disastrous. As it was, the loss was great for those times. 
Sixty thousand dollars worth of property was destroyed, only a very small part 
of which was covered by insurance. 

The year 1863 marked a great change in the fire department. The steam 
tire engines came into use and revolutionized the whole system. Four years 
later the alarm telegraph system was placed in operation. The circuit at first 
consisted of thirty-six boxes; now there are one hundred and fifteen boxes in 
use. Additional engines were purchased, new companies formed, and in 186S 
a paid department organized, with James E. Crow as its Chief Engineer. 

In 1S70 it was reorganized into its present state. From year to year more 
improvements have been made. In 1878 the sliding pole for the men and the 
swinging harness were adopted. The force now consists of one Chief Engineer, 
one Assistant, one ISuperintendet of Fire Alarm Telegraph, and eightj'-four 
firemen, engineers, stokers and hosemen The equipment consisist.s of nine 
steamers, two hook and ladder trucks, eleven hose carriages and forty-four 
horses. 




46 



^aplcPXIII. 




HE educational history of Alleglieny City extends back as far 
as 1S"2U. In that year a Miss Slogan taiiiiht a private school 
located in a little alley off Beaver street, below South Diamond 
street. About the same time another private school was estab- 
lished by John Salter, who rented a room for that purpose in a 
house on Sandusky street, near Park Way. Previ(nis to that, 
John Kelly, Rev. Joseph Stockton, and N. R. Smitii, had given private lessons 
wherever they coukl get hold of a scholar. But the scholars were few and far 
between, and even those parents who would let a teacher come into their house 
would not think of paying out any cash for the education of their children. 
Although John Kelly and N. R. Smith were then considered the two best edu- 
cated men in Allegheny County — their eminent qualities as instructors to the 
young afterwards attracted many scholars from Pittsl)urgh--they were obliged 
to take out the tu'tion fee in board and lodging. 

In 1S2."), Samuel Kerr established a school on Ohio street, between Arch 
and Diamond streets. It was held in a red frame house owned by Mrs. Dew- 
snap. Two or three years later Mr. Scott, a veteran teacher, founded a school 
on Stockton avenue, where the Allegheny General Hospital now stands. The 
school-building had been used as a stone shed, where stones were cut for the 
locks of the old canal. The school room had no floor except that which was 
gratuitously provided by natui'e. Weeds grew luxuriantly in the corners of the 
shed and added not a little to the pictures(jueness of the educational centre of 
Allegheny town, the proud title which Mr. Scott claimed for his school. By 
all accounts Mr. Scott was a good old man. He was in great favor with the 
boys who attended his school. None of them ever received a thrashing, no mat- 
ter how little they had studied their lessons, or how boisterous would be their 
behavior in his presence. But what they liked still better was, that he would go 
out for his whisky half a dozen times during school hours, and sometimes, prob- 
ably when he found good company at the tavern, forget to come back. 

Tiie only school in Allegheny, prior to 1830, that really amounted to any- 
thing, was the so-called " High Free School of Allegheny Borough," of which 
the veteran John Kelly was the principal. 

When Allegheny became a city, it was divided into four wards. The por- 
tion of the borough which comprised the First Ward previous to 1835, supported 
a school iiicMted on Robinson street, near Corry street. This school was presided 
over by Thomas McConnell. About 1835 all the schools of the borough were 
removed to the old Presbyterian Academy on South (yoinmon, near Marion 



aveuue. In tliis manner a burougii school was established, which was continued 
until 1840. In that year the First and Fourth Wards established and maintained 
a High School in the basement of the South Common M. E. Church, and 
appointed John Kelly teacher. In 1844 the directors of the First Ward pur- 
chased a lot on the corner of School and Rebecca streets, and erected a two- 
story brick building containing four rooms, and in January, 1845, removed the 
schools from the academy. John Kelly was elected principal and teacher of the 
highest depart ment. In 1845 this building was enlai-ged by the addition of a 
third story, containing two rooms. In 1853 a contiguous lot in the rear of the 
school house was purchased for $1,500. In the same year two rooms weie 
rented in the west end and two schools oi'ganized tlierein. In 1856 six rooms 
were added to the rear of the first building at a cost of $4,100, and the two 
schools in the west end of the ward were transferred to the enlarged building 
on Eebecca street. This house continued to be used for school purposes until 
1874, in which year it was torn down and the present building erected. 

The public schools of the Second Ward were organized in 1840. From then 
until 1846 the schools were held a part of the time in a two-story house, which 
stood on the corner of North alley and Webster street. It contained two rooms. 
During the remainder of this period they were held in a building on the corner 
of Barnett alley and Arch street. The building on North avenue was lirst occu- 
pied in August, 1846. It was two-stories high and contained four rooms. This 
building was subsequently remodeled, one story being added. The remodeled 
building was damaged by storms in 1859, and was then rebuilt very nearly as 
it now stands. The added story, like each of the others, was constructed to 
suit the plan of the school management in those times with a class room and 
study room occupied separately by a principal and an assistant. Prior to 1874 
the Second Ward maintained two other schools beside the one on North avenue. 
One of these was located on Taggart street and was known as the Pleasant 
Valley School. The other was on Observatory Hill. In 1866 a two-story trame 
school house, aftei-ward the Pleasant Valley Church, was erected on Taggart 
street in Manchester During the following winter the Borough of Manchester 
was annexed to the city and their school was assigned to the Second Ward. 

The Observatory Hill school was oi'ganized as a sub-district of McClure 
Township, and a one-story brick school house was erected there in 1867. In 
1870 this territory was also annexed to the city, and became a part of the 
Second Ward. 

In 1873 a lai'ge lot on Irwin avenue, fronting on Washington street, was 
purchased, and during the summer of 1874 the Irwin avenue school house was 
built. Since that time a large wing,-coniprising seven rooms, has been added 
to the main building. In 1887, another large building was erected on Obser- 
vatory Hill. The Second Ward Schools, as now organized, are in three build- 
ings. They stand on North avenue, Sliei'man avenue, and Observatory Hill. 
The first building erected in the Third ward for public school purposes was 
located at the corner of North and Cedar avemies, in 1839 It was built of 
brick and contained two rooms. The second house was built at the corner of 
East and Third streets al)i>ut ls41. It was a frame one-story containing two 
rooms. 

48 



About 1846, the old Washington Temperanco Society, of Allegheny erected 
near tiie Diamond, a building which was known as "The Ark." Tiiis buildiii"- 
was rented and fitted up to acconiniodate the advanced pupils of the male 
department of all the schools of the ward. 

The school building at the corner of Esplanade street and North avenue, 
was erected in 1850. It contained at first eleven rooms, but the rapid increase 
in population nuide it necessary, at two different times, to enlarge the building, 
wliich now contains 23 rooms. In 1870 a site was procured on Chestnut street, 
in the eastern part of the ward, where in 1871, a handsome three-story brick 
building with stone trimmings, was erected containing twelve large school 
rooms, cloak rooms, etc., the entire cost of which, including the lot of ground, 
heating apparatus, furniture, etc., was §7.5.000. At the present time the schools 
of the ward are accommodated in the two buildings, North avenue and 
Chestnut street. 

In 1840, as far back as the records extend, there were three public schools 
in the Fourth Ward. Two of these were located in the basement of Dr. SprouPs 
church, corner of Lacock and Sandusky streets, and the remaining one on 
Avery street, nearly opposite the present scliool house. There were also in the 
ward two joint public schools, one for colored children in the basement of the 
Baptist Church, and the other a joint High Scliool already spoken of. In 1841 
another school was added to the three already in operation, and in 1844 the 
schools were reorganized, when the joint High School was abandoned, and the 
rooms occupied by it were taken for the lower schools, wliich had grown from 
three in 1840 to seven in 1844. 

The schools as organized in 1844, were located as follows : two in the base- 
ment of the South Common M. E. Church; two in the basement of Dr. Rodgers' 
church; two on South Canal street near the aqueduct, and the remaining one on 
Avery street near the present school building. Tlius organized they remained 
until 1848. 

In 1847, a lot 70x110 feet, situated on Sandusky street, where Dr. Sproul's 
church now stands, was purchased for $3, .500, and a new school house was 
erected thereou at a cost of $5,400. This building contained fourteen rooms 
and was used for school purposes until 1871, when the present building on 
Liberty street was occupied. 

The building for the schools of the upper district of the Fourth Ward was 
located on SoulIi Cann! street near the aqueduct, from 1848 until 1868, when the 
present building on Liberty street was finished at a cost of $31,000. The total 
cost including ground, furniture, grading, paving, etc., was about $56,000. 

The Fifth and Sixth Wards are so intimately connected as to make their 
early history inseperable. When Manchester was consolidated with the citv. 
parts of the First and Second Wards were merged with the Fifth and Sixth 
Wards. At that time there were nearly 600 children of school age in the Fifth 
Ward. The school accommodations of that ward consisted then of a two-story 
brick building on the corner of Chartiers and Fayette streets. It had four rooms 
only. 

A lot at the foot of Fulton and Page streets was jiurchased, and by Sep- 
tember. 1S69, an elegant new building was ready for occupancy. Just three 

■i'O 



mouths hiler the structure was partially destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt during 
the following year. A few years later the demand grew for an additional twelve 
]-oom house, and one of the most elegant school edifices in tiie State was 
erected. 

That part of Allegheny embraced within the Sixth Ward constituted in 
1834 part of Koss Township. Later it became part of the Borough of Manches 
ter. Earlier than 1834 Mr. Neville had taught a school near what is now the 
corner of Sti-awberry alley and Beaver avenue. Through the influence ot Robert 
M. Clark and others a small frame school house was ei-ected on the corner of 
Chartiers and Fayette sti-eets, in which private schools were maintained for 
several years before the adoption of the public school system. 

In this building it was claimed that the first public school of this locality 
was opened under the new law. The new system met with such bitter opposi- 
tion that no one could be found willing to serve with Mr. Park on the board. 
He, however, was equal to the etnergency. Under legal advice he levied a tax, 
appointed collectors, and for a year constituted the board, bravely fighting the 
new law through to a glorious success. From that time on the schools grew in 
public favor. In 1836 a new one-roomed school house was erected on Chartiers 
street, near Locust. 

In 1840 blackboards were first used in the schools of this neighborhood. 
During the same year arrangements were made for the building of a new brick 
school house on the lot where the old frame stood. In 1859 the old Sixth Ward 
school house, which still stands near the uew one and which is still occupied 
with schools, was ready for use. It contained twelve rooms, and accommo- 
dated the children until 1870, when a new fifteen room building was erected 
alongside of the old one, at a cost of $42,700. To these two buildings a frame 
annex of six rooms was added two years ago, making a total of thirty-three 
rooms. 

In the Seventh Ward, which was formerly a portion of Reserve Tt)wnship, 
public schools were organized in 183(5. This district embraced Duquesne Bor- 
ough, New Troy, Spring Garden, Woodville and McClure Township. Troy Hill, 
Woodville and Spring Garden were absorbed by Allegheny in 1868, and formed 
the Seventh Ward until 1877, when Woodville became the Twelfth Ward and 
Troy Hill was designated as the Thirteenth Ward. The first public school build- 
ing in the Spring Garden district waserectedin 1857, on a lot fronting on Angle 
and Humboldt streets. It was a one-story brick of three rooms. An additional 
story of two rooms was added in 1861. 

lu 1868 a one-story frame containing one room was erected on the same 
lot. In 1874 an adjoining lot was purchased and the building was remodeled 
for school purposes. In 1880 all the schools of Spring Garden were brought 
together in an elegant new brick building of twelve rooms, which is still in use. 

In 1849 Duquesne Borough was formed from a portion of t'le Troy Hill 
district, and in 1868 it became the Eighth Ward. As far back as 1847 or 1848 a 
two-story brick building was erected on River avenue, opposite Herr's Island. 
The Board of Directors furnished some money to assist in the erection of the 
building, but most of it was contributed by the citizens, on condition tliat the 
liouse should Berve for both school and church purposes. In J 869 a room was 

50 



added to this structure and four teachers were employed. Again in 1863 
another teacher was added to the force, and in 1S83 the Eighth Ward schools, 
with six teachers, occupied the new building on the upper side of East Ohio 
street. 

Through tlie efforts of James Shipniau the tirst school (select) was estab- 
lished in the Ninth Ward in 1856. At and prior to this time the Ninth Ward 
was part of Ross Townsliip. In ]858 this territory became part of McClure 
Township, and the select school became a public school. In 1859 the Board ot 
Directors purchased, at a cost of ^800, a half acre lot on William and Hanover 
streets, on which they erected a two-story frame building for $1,60(1, and in 
1861 another room was added. In 1867 a brick building was erected on the 
same lot containing three rooms at a cost of S6,(t()0. In 1870 part of McClure 
Township was annexed to Allegheny as the Ninth Ward, and, still more room 
being needed for school purposes, in 1873 a three-story brick building was 
added to the old house, making a total of twelve rooms and a hall. 

Prior to 1873 the Tenth Ward was part of Ross Townsliip. Soon afterward 
it became part of the citv and another school house was erected in addition to 
tiie one already in use. The schools at present organized employ six teachers, 
four in the Charles street building and two in the building near the Perrysville 
road . 

More than forty years ago the Eleventh Ward, then part of Ross Township, 
and' afterward part of McClure Township, had a school located on Black Lane, 
subsequently transferred to the upper part of Strawberry Lane, where it remained 
until 1870, when a new site was purchased on Woodland avenue, for the sum 
of $1,300. On this a two-roomed brick house was erected. Three years later a 
school was added by occupying the drawing room of the upper grade of scholars. 
In 1873 this territory became the Eleventh Ward of the city, and in 1874 the 
present large building was erected on Shady Lane. 

The Davisville School, in the lower end of the ward, was organized about 
the same time as those in the upper part already alluded to. A fourth of an acre 
(if ground was purchased where the present building now stands, north of the 
Brighton road, on the hill west of Wood's Run. In 1858, when a second story 
was added to the school, two teachers were employed. The school now employs 
four teachers, two more rooms having been added to the building at a recent 
date. 

The Twelfth Ward School, like the others of Reserve Township, was organ- 
ized in 1836. During 1857 a one-story brick building of two rooms were erected 
and the Woodville School was reorganized. h\ 187i another story was added 
to the building. This territory, with its schools, had then become the Twelfth 
Ward, and at present supports twelve teachers in two excellent buildings ot 
n.odern style. 

The Thirteenth Ward School was organized in I8;J6 in a one-roomed house 
In 1860 the little house was sold and the location changed to Clark street, where 
a tsvo-roomed building was put u]). In 1874 two more rooms were annexed t<> 
this, and in 1885 the directors erected a two-story eigiit-roomed building, which 
now employs seven teachers. 

In 1S37 a public scluiol for the education of colored children was organized 

51 



in the basemeut of the Baptist Churcli on llobinson street. It grew so rapidly 
that soon another colored school was opened. In IS-t-i both the schools were 
removed to a building on Sherman avenue, in the rear of Dr. Swift's Church. 
In 1846 they were removed to Avery street. From there they were taken to 
the Temperance Ark, where they remained for seven years. Their next flight 
was to tiie Universal ist Chapel, in the Second Ward, in 1859. This building 
was located on the corner of Middle alley and North Commons. The final 
locality of the colored school was Sherman avenue, where the new High School 
now stands. It remained there, in a four-roomed building, until 1880, when 
the pupils were distributed among the ward schools. 

Previous to 1883 a high school department had been established and main- 
tained in each of the first six wards At that date all these departments were 
consolidated and a central High School was organized. The frame building on 
Sherman avenue which had been used for the colored school was refitted for 
the accommodation of the High School pupils in September, 1883. This build- 
ing, however, has since been torn down and three more lots purchased adjoining 
the one on which it stood. On this ground an elegant High School building 
has been erected, which is an ornament to the city. The entire cost of the 
edifice, including the ground and furniture, is about $120,000. 

The public schools of Allegheny have what Pittsburgh has not — a library of 
over 3^,000 books. Its nucleus was the old-time Anderson Library, which was 
donated to the schools by its founder. In ]S50 the Anderson Library had 
fifty-seven paying subscribers, with the name of thirty-seven apprentices on 
the list. 

The Allegheny public schools as at present organized are under tlie man- 
agement of a Board of Controllers, consisting of seventy-eight members. Prof. 
James Morrow is Superintendent. The total number of school buildings is 
twenty-two. Total valuation of school property, $1,249,514; total bonded 
indebtedness, $5(52,993 ; total enrollment of pupils, 14,815 ; total average daily 
attendance, 11,200 ; total number of teachers employed, 204; total receipts for 
1888, $466,970; total expenditures for 1888, $416,683. 

Such is the history of the public schools in Allegheny. The school 
held in a stone-shed, attended by half a dozen ragged boys, and presided over 
by a tipsy old man, has developed, in little more than fifty years, into a system 
of education, which, for thoroughness and systematic training of the intel- 
lectual faculties of the young, rivals, if it does not excel that of any other city 
in the land. Only the most competent teachers are employed, and especial care 
is taken by the Board of Controllers to select for principals of the ditterent 
schools only men who are, by education temper and knowledge of human 
character, qualified to hold positions of such great responsibility. 

An additional chapter might be written on Allegheny's collegiate institu- 
tions, but the narrow limits of this work forbid such an undertaking, pleasant 
and instructive as it doubtlessly would prove, both to writer and reader. The 
Western Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, established in 1827, 
The Theological Seminary of the United Presbyterian Church, the Allegheny 
Theological Institute, founded by the Keformed Presbyterian Church in 1840, 



and the Western University, which lias recently been removed from its 
former location on North avenue, to its large and commodious new liome on 
Observatory Hill, are all in a flourishing condition and from j'ear to year 
establish more firmly the claim which Allegheny' City lays to being a centre of 
education.* 

•In the foregoing chapter Warner's "History of Allegheny County" has been quoted from to some extent. 




33 



(^aptcr XIY. 




HERE is one institution on the North Side, the fame of which 
as carried the name of Allegheny through the length and 
breadtli of the land and even across the sea. Tiiis is the 
Allegheny Observatory. Allegheny may well be proud of it, for 
it holds a high place among the institutions for scientific research 
in this country and Europe. Its achievements while under the 
direction of Prof. Langley, have been great. That scholar 
had certainly made it one of the most famous institutions of its kind in this 
country, when in 1886, in consequence of the renown he had gained through his 
work at the Allegheny Observatory, he was tendered the highest astronomical 
position at the disposal of the United States Government, and he accepted it. 
Since then the Observatory has been ably directed by Prof. Very, who gave 
such valuable assistance to Prof. Langley during his labors in Allegheny. 

No one could be better qualified to write an histoi'ical sketch of the 
Allegheny Observatory than Prof Langley himself, and below will be found a 
highly interesting and instructive account of the birth, the progress, and the 
achievements of that celebrated institution, penned by his own hand. 

" The Allegheny Observatory was founded in 1860 by the subscriptions of 
citizens, induced to promote the undertaking by the exertions of Mr. L. Bradley, 
to whom the inception of public interest in the plan was due. A building was 
erected, and a large equatorial telescope was procured, when pecuniary difficul- 
ties arose to hinder immediate farther progress. In 1S66 the donation of a 
large sum by the late Wm. Thaw, of Pittsburgh, with aid from others, freed the 
Observatory from debt, and furnished means for a partial endowment, whose 
income should supply its more urgent future current needs. At the same time 
the original contributors were induced, at the solicitation of Dr. G. Woods, to 
convey their title in the property to the trustees of the Western University of 
Pennsylvania, conditionally upon this property being restricted to the uses of 
the observatory, and on the appointment and maintenance of an observer. Tn 
consequence of this change, the trustees, in 1867, invited S. P. Langley to 
assume the office of director, but it was not until 1S69 that tlie equipment was in 
such a state of forwardness as to permit systematic observation, such as has 
since been uninterruptedly maintained. 

The Observatory is situated on the high ground just north of the most 
populous part of the city of Allegheny, about 450 feet above the Ohio river and 
1,150 feet above sea level. The original building was 72 feet in length and 
consisted of a principal story and basement, the facade looking toward tlie south 



64 



and being divided into a (tnind dome with two wings. Additions have been 
made from time to time, and tiie newer part, wiiich adjoins the eastern wing, 
extends in a northerly direction 88 feet The material is brick, excepting the 
•' dark room," or pliysical laboratory, for investigations in light and heat, which 
is of wood. The revolving dome (having an internal diameter of twenty feet) 
is of wood and iron. 

* Beneath the dome is the principal instrument, the equatorial, of 13 inches 
aperture (with an excellent objective by Clarke, the mounting being by Fitz, of 
New York), with hour circle, reading to seconds of time, declination circle 
reading to ten seconds of arc, and clock movement controlled by Bond's system. 
The instrument has also a position filar micrometer, polarizing solar eye piece, 
star spectroscope with two prisms of Huggins' pattern, a large and a small 
grating spectroscope, and accessories for attaching a reflecting telescope 
(employing no lenses whatever) for special heat researches — for attaching an 
optically plane mirror to the polar axis (thus forming a Fahrenheit heliostat), 
and for converting the inverted telescope Into a great equatorially mounted spec- 
troscope. 

In the western wing is the transit room, containing an instrument of four 
inch aperture by Simnis, a standard barometer by Green, the sideral clock by 
Frodsham, and the principal mean-time clock by Howard. Both clocks, as well 
as the observer at the meridian instrument, or the equatorial, can be placed in 
electric connection with the rest of the building, and also with the lines of 
telegraph connecting the Observatory witii the city, so that beats of the clock 
can at a few moments' notice be transmitted to any part of the country — those 
of the sidereal clock for the determination of longitude, and those of the mean 
time clock for supplying time to near or distant cities and to railroads. 

In the small hall connecting this room with the dome is a stand for the 
galvanometer when this is used in connection with thermo-electric apparatus, 
attached to the equatorial in differential measurements ot the heat from diflferent 
parts of the sun. From this hall, access is also had to the self-registering and 
other thermometers. In the east wing is the room containing the chronograph, 
various pieces of electric apparatus, a third clock, and chronometers. It is 
occupied by the assistant in charge of the time service. 

The north wing contains the private study of the director, the library (which 
has also been used as a workroom and study for <Jne of the assistants), and in an 
extension (constructed in 1S81, at the cost of Mr. Wm. Thaw, with the exception 
of $500 contributed by Dr. C. G. Hussy) a sleeping room, a small workshop, 
an alcove fitted up with a cabinet of shelves atid drawers of instruments, and the 
•'dark room," or physical laboratory. The latter is provided with two stone 
tables, on which are mounted galvanometers of great delicacy, and three stone 
piers in line with each other, on which are placed various instruments for 
researches in solar physics, which do not form part of the equipment proper of 
the Observatory. The principal of these, the spectrobolometer (constructed 
from designs of the director for the study of invisible radiations) stands in the 
center of the room, and receives sunlight through an aperture in the north wall 
from the mirror of a large Foucault siderostat. 

This last important instrument is placed upon a pier of masonry outside the 



building, but connected with it by a pliitforni, and protected from the weather 
by a " rolling house." It carries a 12-inch optically plane silvered glass mirror, 
by Clarke, and was made by Hilger, of London. It is in constant use. 

The equatorial is mainly used in the study of the sun's surface, of which 
daily drawings on a scale of eigh*' inches to the solar diameter have been made 
for several years. Besides these drawings, others on a much larger scale have 
been made, on favorable occasions, by the aid of the polarizing eye-piece. The 
larger part have never been published, but some of them have furnished valuable 
information in regard to the minute structure of the solar photosphere- 
Researches upon the relative thermal, luminous and actinic intensities of differen'- 
parts of the sun's disk, have been carried on with thermopiles and special optical 
devices ; and these are now being greatly extended by the use of the new bolo- 
metric and spectroscopic apparatus. 

A mention of the Observatory's work would be incomplete without some 
account of its system of time-distribution introduced by Prof. Langley in 1869. 
Previous to that date, time had been sent in occasional instances from American 
observatories for public use, but in a temporary or casual manner. The 
Allegheny system, inaugurated in that year, is believed to be the parent of the 
present ones used in this country, in that it was, so far as is known, the first 
regular and systematic system of time-distribution to railroads and cities adopting 
it as an official standard. Two especially constructed lines of telegraph connect 
with the municipal offices in Pittsburgh and Allegheny, with the telegrapli lines 
of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and with private lines of the rail- 
roads. 

A turret clock in the City Hall of Pittsburgh has been provided with 
electrical mechanism, which enables it to be regulated from the Observatory, so 
that its movement may be made synchronous with that of the principal mean 
time standard there, which is itself corrected by nightly observations. 

Tiie electric mechanism of the distant turret clock causes a stroke upon a 
heavy bell above the summit of the tower to be given with exact precision at the 
first second of every third hour, so that it is audible throughout the city. The 
mechanism of the same turret clock is arranged so that the pendulums of clacks 
in any distant police, fire alarm, or other municipal offices, can be controlled by 
it and compelled to move synchronously with its own ; and at the same time it 
can, if desired, automatically report its own time upon the electric recording 
apparatus at the Observatory. The automatic signals of the Observatory clock 
are rendered audible in these offices, and in the still more distant stations along 
the lines of the railways, by simple pieces of telegraphic apparatus known as 
"sounders," which are placed beside tiieir own legulating clocks, and enables 
them to give these hitter an astronomical precision. 

The private lines of the railroads carry these beats over the country from 
New York upon the east, to Chicago upon the west, and from Erie upon the 
northern lakes, to Baltimore on tlie south. Over forty associated railroad com- 
panies are thus not only in permanent electric connection with the Observatory 
but, their managers having adopted its time as the official standard, their 
employes are instructed to make regular comparisons with it ; and for this pur- 
pose, during a certain time every day, the ordinary transmission of time ceases 

56 



while the wires are engaged in transmitting tiie beats of the Observatory 
clock. 

To enumerate all the different railroads thus adopting the observatory time 
would be too long, but to give an idea of the early extent and use which lias been 
made of it, it may be mentioned that in 1ST2 tiiese were grouped into three 
systems, the Southern, including originally seven i-ailroad companies, and extend- 
ing 1,150 miles; the Eastern, including seventeen associated companies, 2,000 
miles ; and the Northei'n, including eighteen companies, 1,563 miles. This 
aggregate of 4,713 English miles did not even at that time represent the whole 
use of the Observatory by railroad companies, since onh' those which have 
officially itistructed their employes to adopt its time as their standard, were 
included in this estimate. 

Over the network of railroad lines uniting the Atlantic, through the Middle 
States, with the western lakes, all trains are moved and all business carried on, 
by time primarily derived from a single clock, whose beats, by the repeating 
instruments of the t^elegraph lines, are virtually made audible at least once a day 
over a considerable part of the country. The advantages of so simple and 
accessible means of regulating the traffic through a large portion of the continent 
are obvious; and it is not only of important advantage in other respects to the 
companies employing it, but by diminishing the chances of accident in traveling 
to contribute largely to the public safety, the Observatory has seen with pleasure 
the use made of it in this interesting application of the processes of an exact 
science to the general welfare, the more as it is in no way incompatible with the 
stead}' pursuit of other and purely scientific duties. 

For the benefit of any future writer of the history of the subject, it may be 
stated; that in 1870 the Observatory had already in extended operation the system 
of time-distribution above described ; that about 1873 the director at Cambridge 
— after conference with the writer — (Prof. Langle}', 1SS4), introduced substan- 
tially the same provisions for connecting Harvard College Observatory with the 
New England roads; and that about the same time, the Washington Observatory 
— which iiad previously sent signals in a limited and desultory manner — com- 
menced to do «o in emulation of the new system. More recently, observatories 
all over the country have introduced like connections, in many instances directly 
seeking information as to the system first introduced here. 

While ordinary observations of precision afe not neglected, the present 
director, considering the advantage of giving particular attention to some one 
portion of astronomical science, has aimed to make the Observatory principally 
useful in physical astronomy, and particularly in solar researches. To this 
fruitful field of labor its work, is likely to be given chiefly, in the future, as in the 
past ; but it is growing increasingly difficult to carry ofi such investigations in a 
site now more than half ringed about wiih manufactories, and the removal of 
the Observatory to a purer air will soon become a necessity. Already, in 1S81, 
the ])rosecution of the most important research became impossible from this 
cause ; and a special Expedition was undertaken from the Observatory, to the 
summit of Mount Whitney, in the Sierra Nevada, to complete it. The principal 
means for the instrumental outfit were furnished by the late Mr. Wm. Thaw, of 
Pittsburgh ; but very essential aid in transportation was obtained from the War 



Depiirtiiieiit tlirough Gen. W. B. Hazeii, cliief signal officer of the I'liitcd ^ lates 
araij, under wliose official direction it proceeded in the writer's cliarge. A full 
account of the means and results of this expedition has appeared in a vdliirnc 
piinted at the government press. 

As no publication fund lias ever been created, the Observatory has never 
published any annals, and the results of its most important original researches 
and discoveries are to be chiefly found in communications to scieiitiflc piiiriiais. 
Of these the principal are : 

"The Solar Photosphere." — Proceedings of the American Association for tin 
Advancement oj Science, August, 187S. 

"On the Minute Structure of the Solar Photosphere." — American Journal 
of Science, February, 1874. 

" On the Comparison of Certain Theories of Solar Structure with Observa- 
tion."-^— American Journal of Science, March, 1875. 

" On the Comparison of Certain Theories of Solar Structure with Observa- 
tion." Estralto dalle Memorie degli Spettroscopisti. Italiani, vol. iv. 

" Sur la Temperature Relative des Diverses Regions du Soleil. Premiere 
Partie : Les Noyaux noirs des Taches." — Comptes Rendus de l' Academie des Sci- 
ences. Vol. 80, 1875. 

" Etude des Radiations Superficielles dn Soleil. — Comtes Rendus de I'Acade. 
mie des Sciences, September, 1875. 

"The Solar Atmosphere, an Introduction to an Account of Researches 
Made at the Allegheny Observatory." — American Journal ot Science, Vol. 10, 1875. 

" Measurement of the Direct Effect of Sun-spots on Terrestial Climates." — 
Astronomical Society's Monthly Notics, November. 1876. 

"Nouvelle Metholde Spectroscopist." — Comptes Rendus de I' Academic des 
Sciences, May, 1877. 

"On the Possibility of Transit Observation without Personal Error." — 
American Journal of Science, July, 1877. 

"On the Janssen Solar Photograph and Optical Studies." — American Jour- 
nal of Science, A23ril, 1878. 

" Transit of Mercury of May 6, 1878 " — American Journal of Science, Jnne, 
1878. 

"On Certain Remarkable Groups in the Lower Spectrum." — Proceedings of 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, October, 1878. 

" On the Temperature of the Sun." — Proceedings of the American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences, October, 1878. 

"Observations on Mount Etna." — American Journal of Science, July, 1880. 

" The Bolometer." — American Metrological Society, December, 1880. 

"The Bolometer and Radiant Energy." — Proceedings American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences, .January, 1881. 

" The Actinit Balance." — American Journal of Science, March, 1880. 

" Sur la Distribution de I'energie dans le Spectre Solaire Normal."— 
Comptes Rendus de V Academic dei Sciences, Juillet, 1881. 

"Observations du Spectre Solaire." — Comptes Rendus de I' Academie des 
Sciences. 

"La Distribution de I'energie dans le Spectre Normal."'— ^mj de Chimie, 
et de Physique, February, 1882. 

" The Mount Whitney Expedition."— -^Va'^'f. August, 1S82. 



"Sunlight and Skjliglit at High Altitudes." — Propeedingn Britwh Aniiocatiion 
at Southampton. 

"Observation of tlie Transit of Venus, 1882, December 6, made at the 
Allegheny Observatorv." iMonthly Notices Roval Astronomical Society, Vol. 
xliii, No. 3. — AsironotiiUche Nachrichten, No. 24S1, January, 188;i 

''The Selective Absorption of Sohir Energy." — AmeHcan Journal of Science, 
March, 188:3, and London, Edinburgh Phil. Magazine. 

'•Die Auswalilende Absorption der Energie der Sonne." — ^Viedemann 
Annalen, April, 1883. 

'' Snr I'Absorption Selective <ie I'enerijie Solaire." — .-Inn. de Vhim. e.t de Phy»., 
Septeinbe.r, 1883 

*' The Spectrum of an Argand Burner."— 'V«ence, June, 1883. 

"On the Determination of Wave-lengtlis in the Infra-red Spectrum" — 
American Journal of Science, March, 1884, ant/ London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philos. 
Magazine for March. 

It will appear from all that has preceded that in the fifteen years since the 
first equipment, the Observatory has not been inactive ; and it may perhaps be 
felt that the results it has reached, and the work it has accomplished, have been 
such as the citizens of the great industrial centres in which it is placed, have 
cause to regard as not discreditable to them. 

In this connection the regretabie fact must be recalled, that in these 
wealthy cities there are not only no museums of art, no libraries of reference, 
no collection of scientific material, but in general, none of those aids to the 
investigation which are to be found in so many younger and smnller places ; so 
that an Observatory, which lives among such things as its natural medium, and 
depends upon their association, has here to furnish out of its own means almost 
everything outside of its actual apparatus that the ordinary resources of 
American civilization should provide for it in any large American city. 

It should be better known than it is that the existence of the Observatory 
in Allegheny has been a constant struggle with poverty. Its income has at no 
time till very recently reached one-fifth that ot other American observatories. 
But that this long struggle, during which it has been forced to earn tiie means 
to carry on its researches, has never brought it (always with the exceptions 
alread}' noted) the contribution of a single dollar from an individual in the 
community in wiiich it exists. It may. perhaps, be said that this fact is not 
publicly known, and that it need only be known to be a fact no longer. 




59 



(^aptci' XY 




O tlie public institutions of Allt'2;liLMiy there lias lately been 
added a Free Library building of magnificent pro])ortions. It is 
the gift of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, the millionaire iron manu- 
facturer, pliilanthropist and protector of arts and scieTices, to the 
City of Allegheny, liis first home on American soil. It has 
become one of the sights of the two cities. Hardly a stranger 
visits Pittsburgh who does not think it worth while to come over 
to Allegheny and spend a few houi'S in admiring the architectural beauty of the 
structure, and in viewing the not less supei'b interior. The style of architecture 
is Romanesque, and the material used Fox Island granite, with red granite 
trimnjings. The entrance from Ohio sti-eet is surmounted by a triple arch, 
while the visitor who enters tiie building from Federal street passes under a 
single arch of the noblest design. Above it is a circular bay with 
gabled windows. On the Ohio street side there is a semi-octagonal apse with 
double windows, surmounted by an arch, which is again surmounted by gabled 
windows. The tower is a piece of art in itself, as well as in its relation to the 
rest of the building. The whole structure is 150 feet square. The grand 
entrance to the Music Hall, on Ohio street, is approached by a noble flight of 
steps forty feet wide, rising gracefully to the vestibule level. Heavy 
granite pillars support the gabled front. The triple doors on the Federal street 
entrance open a lobby pillared right and left with massive blocks of granite. 
But it would take many pages to describe accurately all the admirable 
architectural points of the exterior of the building, and therefore this cursory 
glance at the outside of the building must sufBce. We cannot leave it, 
however, without taking a look at the magnificent interior also. 

The Library section of the building is divided into nine compartments. 
They are the Reception Room, the Reading Room, Ladies' Rtsading Room. 
Magazine No. 1, Magazine No. 2, Inner Office, Repair Room and Lavatory. 
The Reception Room is simply a piece of art. The floor is mosaic, with a 
white marble effect, and in the center is a circular mosaic of reddish tint, with 
chaste arabesques surrounding the words in large mosaic pattern, "'Carnegie 
Free Library." The walls aie tinted in a rich, warm brown. The dimensions 
are 36x40. The height is 26. Five feet below the ceiling, running around the 
sides of the room, are a series of serrated arches enclosing panels of chocolate 
brown, upon which are painted a number of authentic ancient and modern 
" private marks " of noted publishers. At the base of the arches is a lacquered 
border of pale blue. Beneath each arch is the name of a noted native American 
author, representative of a wide field of literature. The names are as follows : 

60 





^r 



Andrew ('arnkgie. 



61 



Audubon, Bancroft, Brjant, Gary, Channing Couper, Edwards, Emerson, 
Franklin, Fuller, Hodge, Hawtluirne, Holmes. Irving, Longfellow, Motley, 
Parker, Prescott, Sigourney, Silliman, Story, Stowe. Taylor, Thorean and 
Whittier. Facing liie entrance is a huge chimney in old style terra 
cotta. The center piece is A. Bryan Wall's portrait of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, 
painted without a sitting at the instance of the Commission as a surprise to the 
subject and the Commission's contribution to the embellishment of the building. 
In a band of color across the chimney appears the sentiment : " Choose your 
author as you choose a friend." A chaste light is diffused by the enormous 
skylight forming a horizontal ceiling. Graceful pillars supporting an arch of 
noble sweep point the way to the Reading Room, luxuriously furnished and 
splendidly lighted. 

The Music Hall, or Carnegie Hall, as it is more commonly called, is 
[jerhaps one of the finest in the country. Its acoustic qualities are said to be 
unrivaled. The main floor is level and the oratoria stage rises in tiers at the 
end of the hall, supporting the $10,000 organ, also a gift of Mr. Carnegie. 
The diii.ensions of the floor are 59x78, the stage 22x59 and the vestibule 36x20. 
The height of the arched ceiling is 40 feet from the apex to the floor. 

The Art Gallery is 4r0x3fi, and the Print Room 50x25. In the Art Room a 
daylight effect is obtained in the same manner as in the Reception Room, and a 
system of gas and incandescent reflectors expressly designed will allow of 
artistic eflfect. The Print Room receives strong daylight from three sets of 
windows. A replica of the lighting arrangements of the Art Gallery adorns 
the Print Room. The grand staircase leading from the Federal street entrance 
to the upper floor corridors. Assembly Rooms and the Art Rooms, is a very 
handsome piece of marble work. The chandeliers in Carnegie Hall are 
expressly designed, as are, indeed, all the lighting accessories, and are strongly 
in harmony. The material is iron, banded, curled and twisted, forming tracery 
designs, and colored a deep blue. There is provision for both gas and electricity, 
and the globes are in either case jdain white glass. The mural decorations are 
similar throughout the building, and are in perfect taste and distinctive by 
reason of perfect simplicity. 

It now remains to be told how Allegheny came to be the recipient of so 
splendid a gift. In April, 1886, Mr. George W. Snaman, a member of Select 
Council from the Tenth Ward, Allegheny, offered a resolution setting apart the 
Third Ward Diamond Square for library purposes if Mr. Carnegie would 
donate the funds necessary to erect the building. At this time Mr. Carnegie had 
offered $500,000 to the Councils of Pittsburgh with which to build a free 
library. He attached certain conditions to the gift, one of them being that a 
tax should be levied each year for the maintenance of the library. At that 
time the limit in the amount of taxes to be laid in the city had been reached 
and Councils was obliged to decline the gift. Then Alleghenians determined 
to see if they could not secure a free library, and the resolution by Mr. Snaman 
was off'ered. The resolution was adopted and a committee, consisting of 
Messrs. Hugh S. Fleming, Thomas A. Parke, Arthur Kennedy aud George W. 
Snaman, was appointed to wait on Mr. Carnegie and place the entire matter 
before him, May 29. Mr. Carnegie communicated with these gentlemen, 




63 



offering $250,000 for the erection of a free library. He provided in liis offer 
tiiat tiie city must each year levy a tax, as all other taxes were laid, to maintain 
tlie library and the building. He also asked the privilege of naming three 
commissioners, who were to act with a like number from Councils in superin- 
tending the construction of the building. The committee reported favorably 
to Councils on this offer, and on June 14 it was formally accepted by 
ordinance. The amount was afterwards increased to §300,000 and the number 
of commissioners to be appointed by Mr. Carnegie to four. The commission 
consisted of the following gentlemen, the first four being named by Mr. 
Carnegie: Messrs. R. C. Gray, Henry Pliipps, Jr., John Walker, James B. 
Scott, H. S. Fleming, Thomas A. Parke, Arthur Kennedy and George W. 
Snaman. Of tlie commission, two gentlemen. Messrs. Gray and Fleming, 
have died since the beginning of the work. Tlie commission met at once at 
tlie residence of Mr. Henry Pliipps. All were present. On motion of Mr. James 
B. Scott, Mr. Pliipps was made Chairman ; then Mr. Joliii Walker was chosen 
Treasurer and Mr. Arthur Kennedy Secretary. At subsequent meetings a plan 
for competitive designs was formulated, and seven firms of architects, all of 
whom had designed important libraries, were requested to furnish plans, to be 
paid for at $500 each, irrespective of adoption. A number of plans were 
submitted, and between the meetings of December 10 and December 27, a 
committee consisting of Messrs. James B. Scott, Arthur Kennedy and Charles 
Davis, consulting engineer, repaired to New York and submitted the plans to 
Mr. Carnegie, who was ill. 

In the meantime the commission had visited New York, Boston, Portland, 
Me., Burlington, Vt., Baltimoi'e and Wasiiington, and examined the library 
buildings of these cities. Tlie knowledge gained on this trip was of great 
assistance in deciding on the best plan. After a long discussion with Mr. 
Carnegie the contract was awarded to Messrs. Smithmeyer & Pelz, the 
architects of the new National Library at Washington, D. C. Contracts were 
awarded in due time, and Chairman Phipps, on January 7, appointed the 
following named gentlemen as the " Building Committe : " Messrs. James B. 
Scott, R. C. Gray, Joiin Walker, H. S. Fleming and G. W. Snaman. By 
mutual consent the practical superintendence of the erection of the building 
devolved on the energetic chairman of the committee, Mr. James B. Scott. 
How well the task has been accomplished can readily be seen. Architects of 
national reputation who have visited and inspected the edifice say that it is one 
of the best constructed buildings in the country. None but the best materials 
have been used, but careful contracting and absence of any delay have been 
responsible for the early completion of the work in such satisfactory manner and 
style. The sketch plans of Paul J. Pelz were admirable in theory, but their 
reduction to practicability was accomplished only by the exercise of much 
patience and hard work. Excavation for the foundations was commenced Sep- 
tember 12, 1887, and the building, when formally opened, was in course of con- 
struction two years, five months and one day, a record few buildings of like size 
and architectural pretensions can duplicate. 

Under the first arrangements the building was to be completed within 18 
months. But a number of unavrjidable delays occurred. The granite blocks, 

G4 



wliicli were luiiubered and dressed in tiie quarries in Maine, were shipped 
by water to Baltimore. On several occasions the vessels containing these 
blocks were swept out to sea by storms, and one was thouglit to be lost for 
weeks. 

At one o'clock un the afternoon <>f February 11, 1890, the doors of the 
Carnegie Free Library building were thrown open to the general public. Two 
days later it was formally opened by the President of the United States. 




65 



^liaptcr XVI. 




HE history of Allef^heiiy City would be very incomplete without 
a brief sketch of her transportation facilities, their progress and 
development. Her favorable location would benefit her but little 
without the enterprise on the part of her citizens which enabled 
them to avail themselves of those advantages, thus drawing to 
her su|)]ilies from the surrounding country and enabling her to 
return such supplies as they required. Tlie first great step in tlie 
direction of increased facilities was the construction of the Pennsylvania canal. 
This canal entered Allegheny county on the west bank of the Allegheny river, 
just below the mouth of Buffalo creek, and followed down that bank of the 
river to a point just below Madison avenue, in Allegheny City, where it made 
a sharp turn and crossed the river by an aqueduct to tlie foot of Washington? 
now Eleventh street, in Pittsburgh, passing along Eleventh street and crossing 
Penn and Liberty streets, it passed under Grant's hill by a tunnel, near to the 
present Pan Handle tunnel, and thence down Suter run into the MonongaheJa 
river. From the bend at Madison avenue there was a branch passing down 
the river on the line now occupied by the West Penn Railrtiad and crossing 
under Anderson, Sandusky and Federal streets to a large basin just beyond 
Darragh street; thence crossing Lacock and Robinson streets, it passed into the 
Allegheny river between Darragh and Craig streets. The canal from Allegheny 
City to Leechburg was placed under contract in 1827 and water let into it 
in 1829. The other divisions were pushed rapidly forward, together with the 
construction of the Portage Railroad, over the Allegheny mountains, and 
various divisions were opened as they were completed, so that by 1834: the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had built and in operation a comjilete system 
of inland communication from Allegheny City and Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, 
consisting of 81f miles of railroad, from Philadelphia to Columbia, on the 
Susquehanna river ; 174 miles of canal, following the Susquehanna and Juniata 
rivers, from Columbia to Hollidaysburg ; 38 miles of Portage over the 
mountains from Hollidaysburg to Johnstown, consisting of a railway with ten 
inclined planes, five on the east and five on the west side of the mountains ; 104 
miles of canal along the Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas and Allegheny rivers from 
Johnstown to Allegheny City and Pittsburgh. Allegheny City thus became 
one of the termini of a through system of transportation, which continued in 
operation until 1863, when its use as a canal was abandoned, having, in 1857, 
passed (along with the other public improvements) into the ownership of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company. After the construction of the Pennsylvania 



66 



Railroad the business of the canal gradually declined, until it was manifest 
that it must from necessity' give waj- to a superior type of highway, so that in 
1865 the Western Peunsylvania Railroad Company, which had built its road from 
Blairsville to Fret-port on its way to Butler, became the owners of the canal 
from Freeport to the outlet into the Allegheny river below Federal street, and 
])roceeded at once to build upon the bed of the abandoned canal a, railway, 
which was completed in 18(iG, and has continued in operation ever since, each 
year, in spite of panics and disasters, showing an increase of business over its 
predecessor. It now consists of four tracks from Allegheny City to Pine creek, 
four miles ; a double track from Pine creek to Allegheny river bridge, above 
Freeport. 25 miles, and a single track with several brandies and loops to 
Bolivar Junction, 94^ miles, and a branch from Butler Junction, near Freeport, 
to the town of Butler, 21 miles. This road was built under the supervision 
and direction of Antes Snyder, Principal Assistant Engineer. As its various 
sections were completed it was opened and operated under his charge until 
entirely completed, when it was leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 
and has since been operated by that company as one of the divisions of its vast 
net-work of railways. Its steady growth, and the progress and prosperity of the 
country through which it passes, is largely due to the liberal and enlightened 
policy pursued by that company in the management of this road. Along with 
this progress of the country traversed by this road has been a corresponding 
progress of the City of Allegheny, its western terminus, the point from which 
the sections reached by the road draw their supplies, and to which they either 
send their produce, or the money realized from that produce, if disposed of in 
other markets. Many and curious incidents are connected with the construction 
of the old Pennsylvania canal. It was the first step in the march of internal 
improvements ; it placed our grand old Commonwealth in the front of material 
progress, a place she has never lost ; it paved the way and rendered possible 
the grand developments which we see, and those of the future whose magnitude 
our wildest dreams can hardly conceive of. Let us give all honor to the men 
who, without a precedent to follow, without the experience of the past to guide 
them, had the courage to undertake and the ability to complete this grand 
foundation of our present prosperity. Nathan S. Roberts, the engineer of the 
western division of the canal, was so bold as to propose carrying the canal over 
the Allegheny river, from Allegheny City to the foot of Washington street, 
Pittsburgh, by a wooden acqueduct of spans of 100 feet, which was such a 
novel proposition that a board of engineers was sent from Harrisburg to 
Pittsburgh, traveling all the way by stage, to examine into the matter and 
report ; who did examine the site and Mr. Roberts' plans and made a favorable 
report, and Mr. Roberts built the acqueduct. It stood for many years, when it 
was burned down and replaced by a wire suspension acqueduct, built by John 
A. Roebling, then a resident of Saxonburg, Butler county. This was considered 
at the time by many as a wonderful structure and opposed by others as 
impracticable. Yet Mr. Roebling built the structure and it remained in use 
until the canal to Pittsburgh ceased to be used. 



67 



T^e -Alls^l)ci»^]poblic]parks. 




il IS the 26th of March, 1807, an Act of Assembly was passed, 
authorizing and providing powers and Qieans for the conversion 
of the Common Grounds of the City of Allegheny into Public 
Parks. The territory known as Common Ground, was a reserva- 
tion from the State of one hundred acres outside of the limits 
of the boundaries of the old town of Allegheny, and dates 
back as far as 1783. The extent of the Common Ground, however, was 
somewhat reduced by 
grants made at differ- 
ent times to the West- 
ern Penitentiary, 
Theological Seminary 
and the Ohio and 
Pennsylvania R a i 1- 
road. The ground 
occupied by the Peni- 
tentiary, however, 
has been reclaimed 
since that institution 
was moved to its 
present location, and 
on its former site now 
stands the P h i p p s 
Conservatory. 

According to the 
first annual report of 
the Park Commis- 
sion (January 1st. 
1869), several well 
directed efforts had 
been made at various 
times to improve the 
Common Ground, and 
plans suggested by 
public spirited citi- 
zens, prominent 
among which was 
that of Henry Irwin, Esq., which included the purchase of the Seminary Hill 
property, and the sub-division of eighteen acres of the reservation into building 




■^cr<i t/l£ ' 



HAMPTON MONOMENT, AHEGHENY PARKS. 



lots, the proceeds thereof to go to tlie ornamentation of large squares (which was 
decided illegal); yet nothing definite was decided npon until February 14, 1S67, 
when the Conunittee on Common Ground Improvement submitted tiie following 
report to Councils, togetlier with the proposed act authorizing and providing 
jiowers for the conversion of the Common Grounds of the City of Allegheny 
into Public Parks. 

The leport, which is a very interesting document, is liere appended : 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 

To the Honorable, the Seleel and Common Councils of lite City of Allegheny : 
Gentlemen : — Your Conimittec on Common Grounds respectfully report: 
In submitting a plan for the improvement of the Common Grounds of the City, they have 
no doubt of your earnest concurrence in the project. 

For wliat can appeal more strongly to our sympathies thau the providing of breathing 
places for an over- worked population; or to our public spirit, than the adornment of so noble 

an expanse of ground ? No true 
citizen can contemplate, without 
mortification, this shameful 
spectacle of opportunities un- 
improved; for to our hands lay 
these extensive grounds, in the 
very heart of the city, accessible 
from every quarter — ours, with- 
out cost, save the trifling ex- 
pense of divesting a useless 
right of commonage. Every 
true citizen will hail with pleas- 
ure the conversion of these bar- 
rens — these sink pools, recepta- 
cles of garbage, unsightly 
badges of municipal ilisgrace — 
into beautiful Parks, indicative 
of a refined community, and of 
an intelligent government. Your 
committee believe that every 
member of Councils will feel 
proud to connect his official 
career witli so noble an under- 
taking, supported as he nmst be 
bv the conviction that he is 
thereby greatly advancing the 
moral and material interests of 
his constituency. 

With reference to our duties 
as Councilmen, the committee feel that it is incumbent on us to increase tlie municipal revenues, 
in all proper ways, and believe that this increase can be most speedily realized by such legislation 
as will make the city more desirable for private residences. Whatever will cause the same 
property to yield a larger revenue on the same millage, is a proper object for nmnicipal action 
to accomplish, for thereby the necessity for so large a millage is proportionably decreased. 
With reference to this proposition, we assert, without fear of successful contradiction, that the 
direct, itiunediate and tangible result of the proposed improvement of the Conmion Grounds 
will be to increase the valuation of property fronting on the Commons, alone, for taxable 
purposes, more than double the whole cost of improvement, without including the increase of 
valuation by new edifices, which \s'0uld be the sure result of such itnprovenient. 

As to the burden of the cost of the improvement, there exists the greatest misapprehension 




HUMBOLDT MONUMENT. 



69 



We venture to say that the heaviest proportion of the cost will be less yearly, than one would 
cheerfully expend for half the pleasure which these Parks will afford him and his family. 
$200,000 is the outside figure of expenditures, to be raised in ten annual installments, assessed 
upon all the property within the city limits, in proportion to the benefits which each particular 
piece of property will re- 
ceive from the improve- 
ment. This will be in no 
manner a tax; it is the 
purchase money of the 
Parks, payable in ten an- 
nual installments, and 
when all the payments 
shall have been made the 
assessments will cease by 
their own limitation. 

Suppose that the 
property on the Common 
Grounds should alone be 
held for the entire sum of 
f 200,000, payable one- 
tenth annually ? There 
are in round numbers 
20,000 feet of frontage; 
ten dollars a foot, or $200 
for each 20 foot lot, would 
raise the whole sum; and 
this divided by ten years 
would give the annual 
payment of $20 only for 
each 20 foot lot. The 
property would increase 
in rental value five times 
that amount, upon the 
suspicion of such an im- 
provement. How trifling 
then will the individual 
assessments be, when the 
whole frontage of the city 
contributes its proportion. 
If the Common lots were 
to pay but $5 a year it 
would be difficvdt to con- 
fine the sum raised to the 

limit proposed, by an assessment of 50 cents a year on remote lots. Thus for instance there are 
in round numbers 300,000 feet of frontage in the entire city. Let us suppose five distinct 
classes or proportion of benefits, viz: At $5, $3, $2, $1, and 50 cents for each twenty foot lot. 
1st : 20,000 feet— 1,000 lots at $5 for one year, $5,000. In ten years, $50,000. 
2d : 40,000 feet— 2,000 lots at $3 for one year, $6,000. In ten years, $60,000. 
3d : 50,000 feet— 2,500 lots at $2 for one year, $5,000. In ten years, $50,000. 
4th : 50,000 feet— 2,500 lots at $1 for one year, $2,500. In ten years, $25,000. 
5th : 60,000 feet— 3,000 lots at 50 cents for one year, $1,500. In ten years, $15,000. 
Total, 220,000 feet, 11,000 lots for one year, $20,000. In ten years, $200,000. 
Leaving 80,000 feet of frontage unassessed at all. 

A cost per lot at the greatest figure, that if the whole frontage should be of the first class, it 
wonld be so utterly trifling, in view of the accomplishment of so great an improvement, that no 
lot owners would hesitate to pay it. The figures above are given only as an illustration, of 
course, and are no indication of the views of the committee, as to the rates of benefits. 




WASHINGTON MONUMENT. 



70 







f lilt 



71 



Property is to pay this cost, in proportion to the benefits received — a principle, now firmly 
established, and governing the present practice of our own and nearly every other city in all 
cases where rates of pecuniary benefits can be distinguished. It is the only fair way For why 
should a remote lot pay as much as a Common lot, as it would under a general tax ? It is no 
argument to say that Common lots would pay a larger tax, by reason of the improvement. 
They will not; for the general tax goes only upon the dollar of wealth, and that equalh-, 
wherever situated ; the rich man does not pay one mill larger tax tlian the poor man . he only 
pays a greater gross sum, because he has a greater number of dollars to be taxed on. It makes 
no diflference how he acquired that greater number of dollars, whether by gift, liy his private 
exertions, or by a Common Ground improvement; and he may, with as nmch force of argument, 
object to paying for a lot of ground which he may buy, because he will have to pay larger taxes 
than he did before, by reason of having it, as to object for the same reasons to paying his 
assessment for the additional wealth which the Common Ground improvement will give him. 

The committee adopted the ten year plan of paying the cost, for the reason that there may be 
many people who could better afford to pay interest for a short time, than to pay the whole amount 
off at once. They are opposed to a funded ilebt for any purpose which will not produce a munici- 
pal revenue, such as water works, market houses, &c. , and object that any other funded debt is 
not in ease of the community, nor shifted upon posterity without a much greater cost to the gen- 
eration which funds it, than would suffice to pay it all off. Posterity has greatly the advantage of 
us. It has at least thirty-three years of grace, during which its burdens are borne by ourselves. 
One-half of that time— sixteen years— of interest, which the present generation pays, either in 
its own ease, or to reach posterity, raises an amount equal to the whole principal, while the 

whole amount of 
the principal re- 
mains as large as at 
first. Another six- 
teen years repeats 
the costly experi- 
ment, with like 
results. 

The city gets no 
interest; the city- 
taxpayers' yearly 
share saved is too 
small for invest- 
ment, so that every 
installment of in- 
terest is really an 
addition to the 
principal. 

The work is to be 
done by a commis- 
sion appointed by 
Councils, because a 
work of such mag- 
nitude will require 
the consistency of 
purpose and plan which an unchanged commission can only secure; but until Councils approve 
the plan of improvement, the commission cannot commence operations. 

The other features of the bill require no special notice. It is desirable that the work shall 
be completed as speedily as possible, that we of this generation, who have the bills to pay, may 
have as much of the pleasures and benefits of the Parks for ourselves and our families as is 
possible. 

Finally, we have endeavored to make the machinery of the bill as simple as is consistent 
with efficiency. We present the plan as the best efforts of the committee to place the matter 
on the most practicable basis. We believe that the individual charge will be so trifling, the 
advantages to private property, to ::iunicipal revenues, to public spirit, health, enjoyment, and 




I o \ r 1 } 



morals, so transcendentlyl great and important, ithat no unnecessary delay should be permitted 
to interfere with its accomplishment. We respectfully submit the following resolution: 

A'CAi'/rcc/, That the Clerks of Councils be, anil they are hereby directed to forward the 
annexed bill to our Senators and Representatives at Harrisburg, with the request that the\- will 
use their influence to have the same enacted into law. 

Respectfully subnutted, A. H. KNGLISII, 

\VM. SMITH, 
JNO. KIRKPATRICK, 
JOSEPH M. DRENNAN, 
ALEXANDER HANNA, 

Conimitlee. 







MUSIC P.WILIOX. 



The Common Ground Improvement Act provided for a Park Commission 
to be appointed by the Councils of the City of Alleghenj', and to consist of tlic 
Mayor, three members of Councils and three other citizens of Allegheny. 
Section 5 of the Act reads: 

Section .5. The said Park Commission shall continue and possess the powers hereinafter 
granted to them until the entire completion of the proposed Public Parks, as hereinafter 
mentioned, and shall have, from the date of their appointment, exclusive control in and over 
all the Common Grounds, and over all the improvements now or hereafter to be made thereon, 
and all materials for the same, and all contracts and workmen employed in and about tlie same ; 
they shall have full autliority to procure plans and specifications for the conversion of said 
grounds into Public Parks, as aforesaid, to enter into a contract or contracts for the doing of the 
work thereof, or any portion thereof, or for furnishing of material therefor; to hire such employes 
as may be necessary, in their estimation, to further the progress of the said improvements; to 
<lraw requisitions on the Controller of said city, as hereinafter provided, and they shall have 
power, in the corporate name of the city, to enforce, by an action at law or in equity, all 
contracts and agreements made by them under the provisions of this law, and the said 
commission shall have the further power to make regulations, subject to the approval of 
Councils, for the control of citizens, contractors, workmen and all others, in relation to the said 

73 



proposed improvements, and the use of the said grounds during the progress of the work, and 
the same to enforce by penalties, recoverable by summary conviction before the Mayor, or any 
Alderman of said city, and they shall keep minutes of their proceedings, and shall report 
monthly to the said Councils, and their accounts shall be audited by the City Controller; 
Provided, That after plans and specifications shall have been adopted by the said commission 
they shall present the same to the said Councils, with estimates of costs, for their approval, and 
until the said Councils shall, by resolution, approve plans and specifications for the making of 
said Parks, the further powers of said commission, beyond the procuring of other plans and 
specifications, shall be in abeyance; And provided further. That in no event shall the entire cost 
of the said Parks exceed the sum of two hundred thousand dollars; And provided further, That 
all work done, or caused to be done, by said commission, under this act, shall be by contract, 
made with the lowest and best bidder or bidders, with good and sufficient security, due notice of 
proposals for the same having been previously advertised by said commission. 




FOUNTAIN IN ALLEGHENY PARKS. 

Immediately after the passage of the Act, a commission was appointed by 
Councils. It was composed of James Parke, Jr., President; Hon. Simon 
Drum, Mayor; A. H. English, A. M. Marshall, Joshua C. Patterson, Robert 
Lea and Alfred Slack. The commission entered upon its duties without loss of 
time. Mr. Charles Davis, the City Engineer, was delegated to visit the Eastern 
cities and submit his plans and suggestions relative to the improvement of the 
Common Grounds to such landscape gardeners as in his judgment would be 
best qualified to prepare designs for the proposed Parks. Mr. Davis executed 
his mission with great ability, as is shown by his report to the commission after 
his return. He submitted the bids and plans of a number of noted Eastern 
landscape gardeners. After several meetings the commission settled on 
Mitchell & Grant, New York, to prepare the designs. The plans, as prepared, 
were submitted to Councils and approved. 



74 






^kv> fe Wit;* '^''--^' 















■p^i&= 










It is needless to follow up the work of the Park Commission in detail. The 
transformation of the "barrens, sink pools, receptacle of garbage, unsightly 
badges of municipal disgrace," as the Improvement Committee designates the 
Common Grounds, in the beautiful Parks that attract the attention of every 
stranger and are the pride of the citizens of Allegheny, is much more striking, 







THE CONSERVATOR\ 

if we do not take notice of its different 
stages of ])rogress. Let us take a view 
of the Parks as they appear now, on a 
bright day in June, when the grass, the 
flowers, the plants and the foliage have 
assumed their richest hues and a gentle 
breeze laden with the fragrance of the 
verdure fans your cheek. Entering the 
Parks from Stockton avenue, on the 
west side of Federal street, you see a 
broad stretch of velvet}' grass extending 
as far as the eye can reach. Along the 
trim, well-kept walks are trees of all the 
varieties that thrive well in this locality: 
maples, poplars, lindens, elms, magnolias, sycamores, oaks and chestnuts. 
Further along and crossing Ohio street, 3'ou see the conservatories glistening in 
the sunlight, while on the left is what appears in the distance to be the primeval 
forest, but is in reality a succession of plateau.x jumbled with trees enough to 
afford a grateful shade without spoiling the prospect. Here a bridge, there a 
rustic summer house, beyond a silver ribbon, that appearing and disappearing 
fitfully among the trees, is recognizable as an ornamental lake. These are 
what the visitor sees as he strolls along, with the conservatories on his right 
and the occasional puff's of white smoke on his left, betokening the proximity 
of a hidden railroad. Then turn to the right and walk towards the East Parks. 
Here fountains, statues and beds of gorgeous flowers will attract your attention. 
Having described a complete circle, you will find yourself again on Federal 
street, after walking several miles without leaving the Parks at all, save to 



CONSERVATORY. INSIDE VIEW. 



76 



cross two or three streets tliat Intersect them. The fountains, of which there 
are quite a number in tlie Parks, will bear inspection. A very handsome one 
of marble is placed in the East Park, near North avenue. It stands in the 
centre of beautiful parterres, in which blossoms of thousands of brilliant 
hues can be seen throughout the summer. It is one of the favorite idling 
places of those who know the relative attractions of the Parks. Lower down, 
toward Church avenue, there is a stone fountain, with steps and a large basin. 
Then there is a smaller one on Stockton avenue, and a very large iron one in 
the West Park, near Kidge avenue. This is in the centre of an open space, 
around which seats are ranged, and is generally the resort of hundreds of 
children and their nurses in the afternoon, who give way to young couples in 
the evening. 

In the West Park, near Sherman avenue, and at the end of the conserva- 
tories, is a circular space, 200 feet in diameter, paved with asphaltum, which is 
always crowded on band afternoons and evenings. In the centre is a handsome 
music pavilion, commodious enough for a large orchestra. Concerts are given 
throughout the summer, the cost being defrayed by citizens, many of whom 
take the concert upon their own shoulders for some particular day in the season. 
There is no lack of public spirit in Allegheny, and the concerts are given at 
very frequent intervals. 




CONSERVATORY. 



IINSIDE VIEW. 

But the glory of the Allegheny Parks are the conservatories, the gift of 
that philanthropical and public spirited gentleman, Mr. Henry Phipps, Jr. 
Covering a space of 140 by 150 feet, they comprise nine separate houses, in 
which nearly every ordinary variety of plant that can be grown under glass is 




LAKE IN ALLEGHENY PARKS. 



to be found, besides many that ,are extraordinary. In the middle is the palm 
house, 120 feet long and 28 feet in height. Kept at a tropical temperature and 
full of mighty trees such as is seldom seen in this country, even in hot houses, 
it is a very interesting place to visit. Bananas, bearing fruit, are some of the 
curiosities. Even the 28 feet is not enough for them, and they are continually 
threatening to force their way through the glass roof. Around them are fine 
specimens of palms, pandanus, cycads, orchids, etc., while in a stone basin at 
their roots gold and silver fish play among queer water plants whose names are 
known only to learned botanists. In the other houses are thousands of decora- 
tive and bedding plants, the chrysanthemum show in the autumn being the fin- 
est in Pennsylvania. A proof of this is afforded in the fact that Superintendent 
Hamilton has taken several prizes with specimens of this plant at different flower 
shows throughout the country. 

Mr. William Hamilton has held the position of Superintendent of the Alle- 
gheny Parks for more than twelve years, and to his well directed efl^orts the 
beauty of the parks, and their usefulness as a health-resort to the citizens, are 
mainl}' due. 



78 



^Otopy of ]\:Tassy 4H[ti^t>5s^i). 

A quaint little book, tlio yollow leaves aud obscure type of which would 
at once attract the attention of •duy curiosity-seeker, is the '•'■ Narrative of the 
Sxifftrinys of Masity llarhison from Indian Barharity." It has long been out 
of print, and at present, so far as is known, there are but three copies in 
existence, highly prized by the owners. Indeed, it was only with great 
difficulty and perseverence that the writer succeeded in discovering the owner 
of one of them. It was easy, though, when compared with the cyclopean task 
of persuading him to give it up for a few days, in order that an extract might 
be made of the thrilling story. 

The editor of Mrs. Harbison's narrative says, in his preface, that he was 
influenced by several considerations to be instrumental in presenting the storv 
to the public. "The repeated solicitations of a poor widow," he states, "who 
in the first settlement of this western country, acted the noble part of a 
))ioneer, and encountered those numerous privations, hardships and sufferings 
which are related within, and many more, which, of their nature, will not 
admit of being recorded. The firm conviction that suffei'ings lierein recorded 
are true, notwithstanding their singular nature and almost incredulous magni- 
tude ; for he (the editor) has made it his business to converse with many, who 
are now alive, who were eye and ear witnesses of many of the scenes here 
related by the widow. And, whenever, from the nature of the circumstances 
in which she was placed, the facts could be cori'oborated, they have been 
attested as true by many persons of indubitable veracity. Her captivity, the 
murder of her two children, the length of time she was in captivity, and her 
almost miraculous escape from Indian barbarity, are facts well known to 
hundreds yet alive. And although she cannot substantiate by any one the 
])cculiar privations siie underwent while a captive and in her escape, yet we 
know that ''the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," and that when she 
came in from captivity, her emaciated and haggard look, her wretched and 
helpless condition, and her sunburnt and mangled bod}', gave full evidence 
that her sufferings had been equal, or even superior, to her tale of sorrow. 

To the preface is affixed a lengthy cei-tificate of Robert Scott, Esquire, 
attesting the truth of a number of the incidents related by Mrs. Harbison. 
He says: '"I have examined the facts which are set forth in her 'narrative,' 
and can attest that there are a number of them which 1 know to be facts, 
namely, those relating to the parts of families killed and wounded on the banks 
of the Allegheny river, above the mouth of Bull creek. Also, the attack 
made by the Indians upon the Block House at Reed's Station, and of Mrs. 
Harbison being taken prisoner at the same time, and her children being killed 
by the Indians. These are facts, for I saw one of her children the next day 
after it had been scalped and murdered in the most barbarous manner, and I 

79 



know tliat another of her children was found upon the Island, after her return, 
murdered and scalped, and was buried on the Island, according to her state- 
ment; and she herself was missing for several days after she was taken prisoner 
before she came to the Allegheny river." 

To Alleghenians, Mrs. Harbison's story must be of especial interest, as 
most of the startling incidents related therein occurred within the present 
limits of their citv. 



Tt^J>C^i 



arratiVc. 



I. 

In consequence of the solicitations of a great number of my friends, who 
have been made acquainted with my sufferings from Indian barbarity, and in 
compliance with the request of many of those who were witnesses of the scenes 
here recorded, I have come to the determination of presenting a narrative of 
my sufferings, &c., before an enlightened and feeling public, being conscious 
thev will sympathize with a woman who endured so many privations and trials 
in the first settlement of this nou-< happy country — feel grateful for the repose 
and felicity which they now enjoy through the labor and privation of tho.se who 
preceded them — and most willingly patronize a poor widow, who is left to 
provide for her family through her own industry. 

I shall begin my narrative with a short account of my birth, parentage, 
removal to the western country, and marriage. 1 was born in Hamwell 
Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, on the 18th of March, 1770. In the 
days of my childhood I was an eye and ear witness of some of those struggles 
which were endured for our independence and liberty. At the battles of Long 
Island, Trenton and Monmouth, I heard the roaring of the cannon and the din 
of war. And when our Revolutionary heroes were engaged in mortal combat 
with the enemies of our country at Westtield, 1 witnessed the bloody scene, for 
on that day, I was at school near where the conflict took place, and upon the 
commencement of the battle we left the school, ascended an eminence which 
commanded a view of the field of battle, where we could hear the word of 
command given by the officers, and see the movements of the troops until the 
smoke enveloped them. 

• My father, whose name was Edward White, was a soldier of the Revolu- 
tion, was for three years during our Revolutionary struggle contractor for the 
army, and was in every battle but that of Long Island. Animated by a love of 
liberty, and a hope of enjoying it, he engaged in this arduous struggle, and 
had the felicity of realizing the accomplishment of his desires in the overthrow 
of our enemies. After the establishment of peace, my father and family moved 
from New Jersey to the western parts of Pennsylvania, on the Monongahela 
river, to a place that was then called Redstone Fort, where Brownsville now 
stands. This took place in the year 1783, and in that place I lived with my 
father till the year '87, when I was married to John Harbison. My marriage 

SO 



incurred tlic displeasure of my father. Two years elapsed wliile 1 lived near 
liim. At last, finding that iiis displeasure did not abate, I moved with my 
husband to the banks of the Allegheny. We settled on the head waters of 
Chartier's creek, where, from 17S9 to '91 we did extremely well, and had a 
prospect of continuing to do well; but the breaking out of the Indian war in 
March, '01, blasted all our prospects, and the consequence of that war bereft us 
of all we possessed. So pass the fleeting enjoyments of the present life ! 



II. 

The savages, who had been persuaded to take a part with Great Britain 
during our struggle for independence were unwilling, when peace was restored, 
to bury the bloody tomahawk — they had not sufficiently bathed that murderous 
weapon in the blood of the Americans; hence they continued to exercise 
towai-ds them the most wanton acts ot barbarity without the smallest pretext. 
It appears from the most indubitable testimony, that from 1783, when peace 
was made, to October, 1790, when the United States commenced offensive 
operations against them, that on the Ohio and the frontiers the Indians killed, 
wounded and took prisoners about 1,500 men, women and children, besides 
taking away 2,000 horses and a large quantity of other property. The particu- 
lars of many of the acts of barbarity, although supported by indisputable evidence, 
are cf too shocking a nature to be presented to the public. These cruelties 
were inflicted upon prisoners of different ages and sexes, and it is sufficient here 
to observe that the scalping knife and tomahawk were the mildest instruments 
of death which were employed; in many cases torture by fire and other 
execrable means were used. 

The inhabitants of the frontiers on the banks of the Allegheny, during 
the year 1790, enjoyed repose, though many inhuman acts of barbarity were 
perpetrated on the frontiers by the savages on the Fouth side of the Ohio, to 
detail which would be too tedious and disgusting, as well as swell the narrative 
beyond our intended limits. 

The first acts of Indian aggression and cruelty which took place on the 
banks of the Allegheny in 1791, was the attack which the savages made upon 
the house of Mr. Thomas Dick, living below the mouth of Deer Creek. This 
attack was made on the 18th of March, 1791. Mr. Dick and his wife were 
made prisoners, and a young man who was living in the house with them was 
killed and scalped, and a considerable number of horses was stolen. Mr. Dick 
and his wife, though they were the subjects of those cruelties which were to be 
endured by those who were so miserable as to fa'J into the hands of these 
barbarians, yet had their lives spared them, and at the termination of four 
years, when peace was restored, through the victory which General Wayne 
obtained over the Indians, they obtained their liberty again, with nearly 400 
more. 

On the night of the 22d of March, that is four days after the preceding act, 
seven Indians came into the house of Mr. Abraham Russ, who lived about two 
miles above the mouth of Bull Creek, and twenty-three miles from Pittsburgh, 

81 



on the Allegheny river, in a friendly manner, leaving their rifles at the door, (a 
well-known token of Indian friendship) and solicited their supper. Their request 
was complied with, and supper was procured for them, and they sat down and 
supped. When they hud supped one of the savages went and placed himself 
against the door, to prevent any of the family from escaping, while the rest 
with their instruments of death, (the tomahawks) began an indiscriminate mur- 
der of the inhabitants of the house, who had just treated them with so much 
hospitality. They succeeded in their diabolical project, so far as to tomahawk 
and scalp four men, old Mrs. Russ, the mother of Mr. Russ, and six children ; 
then plundered what they pleased from the house, bore away their plunder, and 
set fire to the house, and burnt the dead bodies with the buildings. 

Mrs. Dary, daughter of old Mrs. Russ, stood and endured the appalling 
and heart-rending sight of an Indian's taking her own child, of eighteen months 
old, and knocking its brains out against the head of her motiier, by which means 
her mother was also killed. Thus by one inhuman act of barbarity she was 
deprived of a mother and a child ! When she beheld this, she made to the door, 
to attempt an escape herself; then one of the Indians struck a blow at her head 
with his tomahawk ; but she raised her left arm and averted the blow, so that 
the end of the tomahawk only cut her cheek. She succeeded in getting to the 
door, and in pulling it to pieces, being made only of clapboards, by which 
means she made her escape, and left an open passage for those who were able 
to follow her. Three of her daughters then made their escape by following her 
Mrs. Dary, sister-in-law to young Mrs. Russ, then made her escape, and three 
of her daughters with her. Agnes Clerk had the felicity of escaping with two 
children, and Catharine Cutwright also escaped with them, having lost her 
husband and son. 

John Dary, a lad of thirteen or fourteen years of age, a son of Mr. Jacob 
Dary and Mrs. Dary, who was the proprietor of the house, but who was from 
home when this melancholy catastrophe took place, who escaped, when he saw 
the manner of the Indians at supper, suspecting that all was not right, privately 
made his escape from the house and hid himself in a hollow tree, where he 
remained till the next morning, when he removed to a hole in some rocks, on 
little Bull Creek; in this situation he remained till the third day, when he was 
frightened from his retreat by the appearance of a wolf; and Jacob, a younger 
brother of six years of age, escaped from the house during the bloody conflict, 
and hid himself under a log, and covered himself over with leaves. While he 
was there secreted, the Indians repeatedly came upon the log, with tire in their 
hands, in quest of those who had escaped, but he was mercifully preserved, by 
an over-ruling Providence, from falling a prey to their cruelty. 

The women and children who had escaped hastened to the river, when 
they called so as to be heard a mile and a half, and Levi Johnson, son-in-law to 
Mrs. Russ, ventured at the hazard of his life to cross the river in a canoe 
for them, by which means seventeen persons were preserved from falling a prey 
to those monsters. The night was very frosty and severe, and those who had 
thus crossed the river had to run nine miles, many of them nearly naked, 
without shoes to their feet, and through the woods for a place of shelter. By 
the time they came to a place where they felt any way secure, Mrs. Dary was 



nearij' exliausted witli the loss of blood, from the wound she had received in 
the face, in iier forcing a passage out of tlie house. 

The tidings of this melancholy and heart sickening event spread with great 
rapidity through the counlry. It was brought to nie, and to seven or eight 
families beside, within a mile of the Allegheny and Kiskiminitafi, by Messrs. 
William Critchlow and Samuel Orr, about 11 o'clock that night. By this 
intelligence I was greatly alarmed and agitated for an hour, when we had 
packed up all we were able to carry with us. and were ready to start. I then 
mounted on a horse, with one child in my arms, and another about four years 
old tied on behind me, to ))revent him from falling off; and 1 was within two 
months of being confined with a third. We travelled about seven miles, to Mr. 
James Paul's, on Pine run, where we arrived about daybreak. 

By the time the sun rose, there were between 70 and 80 women and 
children collected to this retreat. And all the men (four excepted) had left us 
to pursue the Indians. The pursuers first went to the place where the awful 
massacre had taken place; there they found the smell, which proceeded from 
the burning of the dead bodies, to be so awfully oflensive, that they were 
scarcely able to endure it. From thence they proceeded a mile below the 
Kiskiminitas on the Allegheny, and erected a block-house, where, in two 
weeks' time, all the families who had fied from our neighborhood returned, and 
remained during the summer. 

My husband, John Harbison, then enlisted in the six month service, in a 
corps raised by Captain Guthrie, and proceeded to the Miami Village, under 
the command of General St. Clair, and was in the fatal engagement, in which 
the Indian savages so completely out-generaled and defeated General St. Clair. 
My husband left me for this expedition at the above mentioned block-house, 
which had received the name of Reed's Station, with three helpless children, 
and came partially among strangers on the 3d of August. And he did not 
leturn till the 24tli of December, when he came home wounded. The wound 
he received in the fatal battle on the 4th day of November, when General St. 
C;iair was defeated. 

On the 6th of November, two days after the above engagement, the 
Indians attacked David M'Kee and another young man, at a fish basket, on the 
river seven miles from the Station, and most brutally massacred and scalped 
them. This was the last act of savage barbarity perpetrated on the banks of 
the Allegheny this season. 



III. 

Vicissitude is the characteristic feature of the present life. All are the 
subjects in a greater or less degree, of the trials and the changes of life; but, 
although it is certain that there is a general allotment of trials in the present 
world, so that "every heart knoweth its own bitterness;" yet it is but too 
evident that there are some of the human famih- who are called to pass through 
those which are infinitely more severe than others. Some seem to pass over 
the season of lite without encountering those awfully agitating billows which 

83 



threaten their immediate destruction, while to others the passage to the tomb 
is fraught with awful tempests and overwhelming billows. Happy will it be 
for those who, after having sailed over the boisterous ocean of time, shall 
eventually be wafted, by a divine breeze, into the haven of eternal repose. 
That those trials which were ot a particular nature, and of an almost 
overwhelming magnitude, were endured by me, will appear by a recital of those 
sober facts* (facts which are too notorious to be d-enied, and too peculiar to be 
counterfeited), to which the attention of the reader is now invited. 

On the return of my husband from General St. Clair's defeat, mentioned 
in a preceding chapter, and on his recovery from the wound he received in the 
battle, he was made a spy, and ordered to the woods on duty, about the 23d of 
March, 1792. The appointment of spies, to watch the movements of the 
savages, was so consommt with the desires and interests of the inhabitants, 
that the frontiers now resumed tiie appearance of quiet and confidence. Those 
who had tor nearly a year been huddled together in the block-house, were 
scattered to their own habitations, and began the cultivation of their farms. 
The spies saw nothing to alarm them, or to induce them to apprehend danger, 
till the fatal morning of my captivity. They repeatedly came to our house, to 
receive refreshment, and to lodge. On the 15th of May, my husband, with Cap- 
tain Guthrie and other spies, came home about dark and wanted supper, to pro- 
cure which I requested one of the spies to accompany me to the spring and spring 
house, and William Maxwell complied with my request. While he was at the 
spring and spring house, we both distinctly heard a sound, like the bleating of 
a lamb or fawn This greatly alarmed us and induced us to make a hasty 
retreat into the house. Whether this was an Indian decoy, or a warning of 
what I was to pass through, I am unable to determine. But from this time and 
circumstance I became considerably alarmed, and entreated my husband to 
rehiove me to some more secure place from Indian cruelties. But Providence 
had designed that I should become a victim to their rage, and that mercy 
should be made manifest in my deliverance. 

On the night of the 2l8t of May, two of the spies, Mr. James Davis and 
Mr. Sutton, came to lodge at our house, and on the morning of the 22d at day 
break, when the horn blew at the block-house, which was within sight ot our 
house, and distant about two hundred yards, the two men got up and went out; 
I was, also, awake, and saw the door open, and thought when I was taken 
prisoner that the scouts had left it open I intended to rise immediately, but 
having a child at the breast, and it being awakened, I lay with it at the breast 
to get it to sleep again, and accidentally fell asleep myself. 

The spies have since Informed me that they returned to the house again, 
and found that I was sleeping; that they softly fastened the doiM-, and went 
immediately to the block-house, and those who examined the house after the 
scene was over, say that both doors had the appearance of being broken open. 

The first thing I knew from falling asleep, was the Indians pulling me out 



*To the principal facts related in this chapter I was called on by the public to make oath 
immediately after their occurrence, for the good of the country, an account of which may be 
found in most newspapers of the day, and in Loudon's selection of the most interesting 
narratives of outrages committed by the Indians, &c. Carlisle, 1808. 

84 



of tlie bed by tlie feet. I then looked up and saw the house full of Indians, 
every one having his gun in his left hand, and tomahawk in his right. Behold- 
ing the dangerous situation in which I was, 1 immediately jumped to the floor 
on my feet, with the young child in my arms. I then took a petticoat to put on, 
having only the one on in which I slept, but the Indians took it from me, and 
as many as I attempted to put on, they succeeded in taking from me, so that 1 
had to go just as I had been in bed. While I was struggling with some of the 
savages for clothing, others of them went and took the two oldest children out 
of another bed, and immediately took the two feather-beds to the door and 
emptied them. The savages immediately began tiieir work of plunder and 
devastation. What they were unable to carry with them they destroyed. 
While they were at their work, I made to the door and succeeded in getting out 
with one child in my arms and another by my side ; but the other little boy was 
so much displeased by being so early disturbed in the morning, that he would 
not come to the door. 

When I got out I saw Mr. Wolf, one of the soldiers, going to the spring 
for water, and beheld two or three of the savages attempting to get between him 
and the block-house, but Mr. Wolf was unconscious of his danger, for the sav- 
ages had not yet been discovered. I then gave a terrific scream, by which 
means Mr. Wolf discovered his danger, and started to run for the block house ; 
seven or eight of the Indians fired at him, but the only injury he received was a 
bullet in his arm, which broke it. He succeeded in making his escape to the 
block-house. When I gave the alarm, one of the Indians came up to me with 
his tomahawk as though about to take my life, a second came and placed his 
hand before my mouth and told me to hush ; when a tJiird came with a lifted 
tomahawk and attempted to give me a blow; but the first that came raised his 
tomahawk and averted the blow, and claimed me as his squaw. 

The Commissary, with his waiter, slept in the store house, near the block- 
house. And upon hearing the report of the guns, came to the door to see what 
was the matter, and beholding the danger he was in, made his escape to the 
block-house, but not without being discovered by the Indians, several of whom 
fired at him, and one of the bullets went through his handkerchief, wliich was 
tied about his head, and took off some of his hair. The handkerchief with 
several bullet holes in it he afterward gave to me. 

The waiter, on coming to the door, was met by the Indians, who tired upon 
him, and he received two bullets through his body and fell dead by the door. 
The savages then set up one of tlieir tremendous and terrifying yells, and 
pushed forward and attempted to scalp the man they had killed; but they were 
prevented from executing their diabolic purpose by the heavy fire which was 
kept up through tlie port lioles from the block-house. 

In this scene of horror and alarm I began to meditate an escape, and for 
this purpose attempted to direct the attention of the Indians from me and to fix 
it on the block-house, and thougiit if I could succeed in this I would retreat to 
a subterranean rock with which I was acquainted, which was in the run near 
where we were. For this purpose I began to converse with some of those who 
were near me, and they began to question me respecting the strength of the block- 
house, the number of men in it, &c., and bemg informed there were forty men 

85 



there, and that they were excellent marksmen, they immediately came to the 
determination to retreat, and for this purpose they ran to those who were 
besieging the blockhouse and brought them away. Tliey then began to flog 
me with their wiping sticks, and to order me along. Tlm.s what I intended as 
the means of my escape was the means of accelerating my departure in the 
hands of the savages. But it was no doubt so ordered by a kind Providence 
for the preservation of tlie fort and the inhabitants in it; for when the savages 
gave up their attack and retreated, some of the men in the house had the last 
load of ammunition in their guns, and there was no possibility of procuring 
more, for it was all fastened up in the store-house, which was inaccessible. 

The Indians when they had flogged me awa}' along with them, took my 
oldest boy, a lad about five years of age, along with them, for he was still at 
the door by mj side. My middle little boy, who was about three years of age, 
had by this time obtained a situation by the fire in the house, and was crying 
bitterly to me not to go, and making little complaints of the depredations of 
the savages. 

But these monsters were not willing to let the child remain behind them; 
they took him by the hand to drag him along with them, but he was so very 
unwilling to go, and made such a noise by crying, that they took him up by 
the feet and dashed his brains out against the threshhold of the door. They 
then scalped and stabbed him, and left him for dead. When I witnessed this 
inhuman butchery of my own child, I gave a most indescribable and terrific 
scream, and felt a dimness come over my eyes, next to blindness, and my senses 
were nearly gone. The savages then gave me a blow across my head and face, 
and brouglit me to my sight and recollection again. During the whole of this 
agonizing scene I kept my infant in my arms. 

As soon as their murder was eflected the}' marched me along to the toji 
of the bank, about forty or sixty rods, and there they stopped and divided the 
plunder which the}' had taken from our house, and iiere I counted their number 
and found them to be thirty-two, two of whom were white men painted as the 
Indians. 

Several of the Indians could speak English well. I knew several of them 
very well, having seen them go up and down the Allegheny river. I knew two 
of them to be from the Seneca tribe of Indians, and two of them to be 
Munsees, for they had called at the shop to get their guns repaired, and I saw 
them there. 

We went from this place about forty rods, and they then caught my uncle 
John Currie's horses, and two of them, into whose custody I was put, started 
with me on the horses towards the mouth of the Kiskiminetas, and the rest of 
them went oil' towards Puckety. When they came to the bank that descended 
towards the Allegheny, the bank was so very steep, and there appeared so 
much danger in descending on horseback, that I threw myself off the horse in 
opposition to the will and command of the savages. 

My horse descended without falling, but the one on which the Indian rode 
who had my little boy, in descending fell and rolled over repeatedly ; and my 
little boy fell back over the horse, but was not materially injured ; he was taken 
up by one of the Indians, and we got to the bank of the river, where they had 

86 



secreted some bark canoes under the rocks, opposite to the island that lies 
between the Kiskiminetas and Buft'aloe. Tlicy attempted in vain to make the 
horses take tiie river. After trying for some time to effect this, they loft the 
horses behind them and took us in one of the canoes to the point of the island, 
and there they left the canoe. 

Here I beheld another hard scene, for as soon as we landed my little boy, 
who was still mourning and lamenting about his little brother, and who 
complained that he was injured by the fall in descending the bank, was 
murdered. 

One of the Indians ordered me along, probably that I should not see the 
horrid deed about to be perpetrated. The other then took his tomahawk from 
his side, and with this h\^U-un\en{ oi Anath killed and seaiped him. When I 
beheld this second scene of inhuman butchery, I fell to the ground senseless, 
with my infant in my arms, and it being under and its little hands in the hair 
of my head. How long 1 reniained in this state of insensibility I know not. 

The first thing I remember was my raising my head from the ground, and 
feeling myself exceedingly overcome with sleep. I cast my eyes around and 
saw the scalp of my dear little boy, fresh bleeding from his head, in the hand 
of one of the savages, and sunk down to the earth again upon my infant child. 
The first thing I remember after witnessing this spectacle of woe, was the 
severe blows I was receiving from the hands of the savages, though at that 
time I was unconscious of the injury I was sustaining. After a severe castiga- 
tion they assisted me in getting up, and supported me when up. 

Here I cannot help contemplating the peculi'^j- interposition of Divine 
Providence on my behalf. How easily might thej nave murdered me ! What 
a wonder their cruelty did not lead them to effect it ! But instead of this, the 
scalp of my boy was hid from my view, and in order to bring me to my senses 
again they took me back to the river, and led me in knee deep ; and this had its 
intended effect. But "the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." 

We now proceeded on our journey, by crossing the island and coming to a 
shallow place where we could wade out, and so arrive to the Indian side of the 
country. Here they pushed me in the river before them, and had to conduct me 
through it. The water was up to ni}' breast, but I suspended my child above 
the water, and through the assistance of the savages got safely out. 

From thence we rapidly proceeded forward, and came to big Buffaloe ; here 
the stream was very rapid, and the Indians had again to assist me. When we 
had crossed this creek, we made a straight course to the Conequenessing creek, 
the very place where Butler now stands ; and from thence we travelled on five 
or six miles to little Buffaloe, and crossed it at the very place where Mr. B. Sar- 
ver's mill now stands, and ascended the hill. 

I now felt weary of my life, and had a full determination to make the 
savages kill me, thinking that death would be exceedingly welcome, when com- 
pared with the fatigue, cruelties and miseries I had the prospect of enduring. 
To have my ])urpose effected, I stood still, one of the savages being before me, 
and the other walking on behind me, and I took from off my shoulder a large 
powder horn thej' made me carry, in addition to my child, who was one yeai" 
and four days old. I threw the horn on the ground, closed my eyes, and 



&cpected every moment to feel the deadly tomahawk. But to my surprise, the 
Indians took it up, cursed me bitterlj, and put it on my shoulder again. I took 
it off the second time and threw it to the ground, and again closed my eyes, 
with the assurance that I should meet death ; but, instead of this, the savages 
again took up the horn, and with an indignant frightful countenance, came and 
placed it on again. I took it off the third time, and was determined to effect it 
then, and therefore threw it as far as I was able from me, over the rocks. The 
savage immediately went after it, while the other, who had claimed me as his 
squaw, and who stood and witnessed the transaction, came up to me and said : 
" well done, I did right and was a good squaw, and that the other was a lazy 
bawd ; he might carry it himself." I cannot now, sufficiently' admire 
the indulgent care of a gracious God, that at this moment preserved me amidst 
so many temptations, from the tomahawk and scalping knife. 

The savages now changed their position, and the one who claimed me as 
his squaw went behind. This movement, I believe was to prevent the other 
from doing me any injury ; and we went on till we struck the Conequenessing, 
at the Salt-Lick, about two miles above Butler, where was an Indian camp, 
where we arrived a little before dark, having no refreshment during the day. 

The camp was made of stakes driven in the ground sloping, and covered 
with chestnut bark ; and appeared sufficiently long for fifty men. The camp 
appeared to have been occupied some time ; it was very much beaten, and large 
beaten paths went out from it in different directions. 

That night they took me about three hundred yards from the camp, up a 
run, into a large dark bottom, where they cut the brush in a thicket, and placed 
a blanket on the ground, and permitted me to sit down with rriy child. They 
then pinioned my arms back, and left my hands only with a little liberty, so 
that it was with difficulty that I managed my child. Here in this dreary situa- 
tion, without fire or refreshment, having an infant to take care of, and my arms 
bound behind me, and having a savage on each side of me, who had killed two 
of my dear children that day, I had to pass the first night of my captivity. 

Ye mothers, who have never lost a child by an inhuman savage, or indured 
the almost indescribable misery here related, may nevertheless think a little, 
(though it be but little) what I endured ; and hence now you are enjoying the 
sweet repose, and the comforts of a peaceful and well replenished habitation, 
sympathize with me a little, as one who was a pioneer in the work of cultivation 
and civilization. 

But the trials and dangers of the day I had passed had so completely 
exhausted nature that, notwitlistanding my unpleasant situation and my deter- 
mination to escape if possible, I insensibly fell asleep and repeatedty dreamed 
of my escape and safe arrival in Pittsburgh, and several things relating to the 
town, of which I knew nothing at the time ; but found to be true when I arrived 
there. The first night passed away, and I found no means of escape, for the 
savages kept watch the whole of the night, without any sleep. 

In the morning one of them left us to watch the trail or path we had come, 
to see if any white people were pursuing us. During the absence of the Indian, 
who was the one that claimed me, the savage who remained with me, and who 
was the murderer of my last boy, took from his bosom his scalp and prepared a 

88 



hoop, aiul sti-etched the scalp on it. Tlioso mothers who liavo not seen the like 
done by one of tlio scalps of their own cliildren. (and few, if any, ever had so 
much misery to endure,) will be able to form but feint ideas of the feelings 
wliich then harrowed up my soul ! ! I meditated revenge ! While he was in 
the very act, I attempted to take his tomahawk, which hung \>y his side and 
rested on the ground, and had nearly succeeded and was, as I thought, about to 
give the fatal blow, when alas ! 1 was detected. 

The savage felt me at his tomahawk handle, turned around upon ino, cursed 
mo and told n.e I was a Yanki-e, thus intimating he understood my intention, 
and to prevent me from doing so again, faced me. My excuse to him for hand- 
ling his tomahawk was, that my child wanted to play with the handle of it. 
Here again I wondered at my merciful preservation, for the looks of tlie Indian 
were terrific in the extreme ; and these, I a])])rehendod, were only an index to 
his heart. But God was my preserver. 

The savage who went upon the look-out in the morning, came back about 
12 o'clock, and had discovered no jnirsuers. Then the one who had been 
guarding me, went out on the same errand. The savage who was now my guard, 
began to examine me about the white people ; the strength of the armies going 
against them, &c. and boasted large of their achieven)ents in the preceding fall, 
at the defeat of General St. Clair. 

He then examined into the plunder which he had brought away from our 
house the day before. He found my pocket book and money in his plunder. 
There were ten dollars in silver, and half guinea in gold in the book. During 
this day they gave me a dry piece of venison, about the bulk of an egg, and a 
piece about the same size, the day we were marching, for my support and that 
of my child ; but owing to the blows that I had received from them in my jaws, 
I was unable to eat a bit of it. I broke it up and gave it to the child. 

The savage, out on the look-out, returned about dark. This evening, 
(Monday the 23d,) they moved me to another station in the same valley, and 
secured me as they did the preceding night. Thus I found my self the second 
night between two Indians, without fire or refreshment. During this night I 
was frequently asleep, notwithstanding my unpleasant situation, and as often 
dreamed of my arrival in Pittsburgh. 

Early on the moring of the 2-l:th, a fiock of Mocking birds and Robins 
hovered over us, as we lay in our uncomfortable bed ; and sung and said at 
least to my imagination, that I was to get up and go off. As soon as the day 
broke, one of the Indians went off again to watch the trail, as on tiie preceding 
day, and he who was left to take care of me, appeared to be sleeping. When I 
preceived this, I lay still and began to snore, as though asleep', and he fell 
asleej). 

Then I concluded it was time to escape. 1 found it impossible to injure 
him for my child at the breast, so I could not effect anything without putting 
the child down, and then it would cr}', and give the alarm ; so I contented 
myself with taking from a pillow ease of plunder, a short gown, handkerchief 
and a child's frock, and so made my escape ; the sun then being about half an 
hour high. 

I took a direction from home, at first being guided by tiie birds before 

89 



mentioned, and in order to deceive the Indians ; tlien took over the liill and 
struck the Conequenessing creek, about two miles where I crossed it with tlie 
Indians, and went down the stream until about two o'clock in tJie afternoon, 
over rocks, precipices, thorns, briars, &c., with my bare feet and legs. I then 
discovered by the sun and the running of the stream that I was on the wrong 
course, and going from, instead of coming nearer home. I then changed my 
course, ascended a hill, and sat down to rest until the sun set, and the evening 
star made its appearance, when I discovered the way I should travel ; and hav- 
ing marked out the direction I intended to take the next morning, I collected 
some leaves, made up a bed, and laid myself down and slept, though my feet 
being full of thorns, began to be extremely painful, and I had nothing still to 
eat for myself or child. 

The next morning, (Friday, 25th of May.) about the breaking of the day, 
I was aroused from my slumbers, by the flock of birds before mentioned, which 
still continued with me, and having them to guide me through the wilderness. 
As soon as it was sufficiently light for me to find my way, I started for the 
fourth day's trial, of hunger and fatigue. 

There was nothing very materially occurred on this day while I was travel- 
ling, and I made the best of my way, according to my knowledge, toward the 
Allegheny river. In the evening about the going down of the sun, a moderate 
rain came on, and I began to prepare for bed, by collecting some leaves 
together, as I had done the night before ; but could not collect a sufficient 
quantity, without setting my little boy on the ground ; but as soon as I put him 
oat of my arms he began to cry. Fearful of the consequence of his noise iu 
this situation, I took him in my arms, and put him to the breast immediately, 
and he became quiet. I then stood and listened, and distinctly lieu/rd the foot- 
steps of a man, coming after me, in the same direction which I had come! The 
ground over which I had been travelling was good, and the mould was light; 
I had therefore left my foot marks, and thus exposed myself to a second capti- 
vity! Alarmed at my perilous situation, I looked around for a place of safety, 
and p-vovident tally discovered a large tree which had fallen ; into the tops of 
which I crept, with my child in my arms, and tiieie I hid myself securely under 
the limbs. The darkness ot the night greatly assisted me, and prevented me 
from detection. 

The footsteps 1 had heard were those of a savage. He heard the cry of 
the child, and came to the very spot where the child cried, and tliere he halted, 
put down his gun, and was at this time so near, that I heard the wiping stick 
strike against his gun distinctly. 

My getting in under the tree, and sheltering myself from the rain, and 
pressing my boy to my bosom, got him warm, and most providentially lie fell 
asleep, and lay very still during the time of my danger at that time. All was 
still and quiet, the savage was listening if by possibility he might again hear 
the cry he had heard before. My own heart was the only thing I feared, and that 
beat so loud, that I was aprehensive it would betray me. It is almost impossi- 
ble to conceive, or to believe, the wonderful effect my situalion produced upon 
my whole system. 

After the savage had stood and listened with nearly the stillness of death, 

90 



for two hours, the sound of a bell, and a cry like that of a night owl, signals 
which were give to him from his savage companions, induced him to answer, 
and after he had given a most horrid jell, which was calculated to liari'ow u^ my 
soul, he started and went ofl" to join them. 

After the retreat of the savage to his companions, I concluded it unsafe 
to remain in my concealed situation till morning, less they should conclude 
upon a second search, and being favoured with the light of day, find me, and 
either tomahawk or scalp me, or otherwise bear me back to my captivity again, 
which was worse than death. 

But by this time nature was nearly exhausted ; and I found some difficulty in 
moving from my situation that night ; yet, compelled by necessity, and by a 
love of self preservation, I threw my coat about my child, anci placed the end 
of it between my teeth, and with one arm and my teeth I carried tlie child, and 
with the other arm I groped my way between the trees, and travelled on, as I 
supposed, a mile or two, and there sat down at the root of a tree till the 
morning. The night was cold and wet ; and thus terminated the four days' 
and nights' difficulties, trials, hunger and danger! 

The fifth day, Saturday, 26th of May, wet and exhausted, hungry and 
wretched, I started from my resting place in the moring, as soon as I could see 
ray way, and on that morning struck the head waters of Fine creek, which falls 
into the Allegheny about four miles above Pittsburgh ; though I knew not 
then what waters thej^ were, but I crossed them, and on the opposite bank I 
found a path, and discovered in it two mockasin tracks, fresh indented, and the 
men who had made them were before me, and travelling on the same direction 
that I was travelling. This alarmed me ; but as they were before me, and 
travelling in the same direction as I was. 1 concluded I could see them as soon 
as they could see me, and therefore I pressed on in that path for about three 
miles, when I came to the forks where another branch empties into it, and 
where was a huntei-'s camp, where the two men, whose tracks I had before 
discovered and followed, had been, and kindled a fire and breakfasted, and had 
left the fire burning. 

I here became more alarmed, and came to a determination to leave the path. 
I then ascended a hill, and crossed a ridge towards Squaw run, and came upon a 
trail or path. Here I sto])pcd and meditated what to do ; and while I was thus 
musing, I saw three deers coming towards me in full speed ; thej' turned around 
to look at their pursurers ; I looked too with ail attention, and saw the flash of 
a gun, and then heard the report as soon as the gun was fired. 1 saw some 
dogs, start after them, and began to look about for a shelter, and immediately 
made for a large log and hid myself behind it ; but most providentially, I did 
not go clear to the log ; had 1 done so, I might have lost my life, by the bites of 
Rattle Snakes ; for as 1 put my hand to the ground, to raise myself to see what 
was become of the hunters, and who they were, I saw a large heap of Rattle 
Snakes, and the top one was very large and coiled up very near my face, and 
quite ready to bite me. This compelled me to leave this situation let the con- 
sequences be what they may. 

In consequence of this occurence I again left my course, bearing to the 

91 



left, and came upon the head waters of Squaw run, and kept down te run theh 
remainder of that day. 

d)uring this day it rained, and I was in a very deplorable situation ; so cold 
and shivering were my limbs, that frequently in opposition to all my struggles, 1 
gave an involuntary groan. I suffered intensely this day from hunger, though 
my jaws were so far recovered from the injury they sustained from the blows 
of the Indians, tiiat wherever I could, I procured some grape vines, and 
ciiewed them for a little sustenance. In the evening I came within one mile of 
the Allegheny river, thf>ugh I was ignorant of it at the time ; and there at 
the root of a tree, through a most tremendous night's rain, I took up my fifth 
night's lodgings, and in order to shelter my infant from the storm, as much as 
possible, I placed him in my lap and placed my liead against the tree, and thus 
let the rain fall upon me. 

On the sixth (that was Sabbath) morning from my captivity, I found myself 
unable for a very considerable time, to raise myself from the ground ; and 
when I had once more by hard struggling got myself upon my feet, and 
started on the sixth day's encounter, nature was so nearly exhausted, and iny 
spirits UJere so comjjletely depressed, that my progress was amazingly slow and 
discouraging. 

In this almost helpless condition, I had not gone far, before I came to 
a path where there had been cattle travelling I took the path under the im- 
pression that it would lead me to the abode of some white people, and by 
travelling it about one mile, I came to an uninhabited cabin ! and though I 
was in a river bottom, yet 1 knew not where I was, nor yet on what river bank I 
liad come. Here I was seized with the feelings of dispair, and under those feel- 
ings I went to the uninhabited cabin and concluded that I would enter and lie 
down and die ; as death would have been to me an angel of mercy in 
such a situation, and would have removed me from all my misery ! 

Such were my feelings at this distressing moment, and had it not been for 
tiie recollection of those sufferings which my infant would endure, who would sur- 
vive for some time after I was dead, I should have carried my determination into 
execution. Here too, I heard the sound of a cow bell, which imparted a gleam 
of hope to my disponding mind ! I followed the sound of the bell, till I came 
opposite to the fort at the point of the Six IMile Island. 

When I came there, I saw three men on the opposite bank of the river. 
My feelings at the sight of these were better felt than they can be described. 
I called to the men, but they seemed unwilling to risk the danger of coming 
after me, and requested to know who I was. I replied, that I was one who 
had been taken prisoner by the Indians, on the Allegheny river on last 
Tuesday morning, and had made my escape from them. They requested me 
to walk up the bank of the river for a while that they may see if the Indians 
were making a decoy of me, or not ; but 1 replied to tiiem that my feet were 
so sore that I could not walk. 

Then one of them, James Closier, got into a canoe to fetch me over, 
and the other two stood on the bank, with their rifles cocked, ready to fire 
on the Indians, provided they were using me as a decoy. When Mr. Closier 
came near to the shore, and saw my haggard and dejected situation, lie 

1)2 



exclaimed, "who in the name of God are you?" This man was one of my 
nearest neiglihors before I was taken, j'et in six days I was so much altered 
that he did not know me, either by my voice or my countenance. 

When I landed on the inhabited side of tiie river, the people from the fort 
came running out to the boat to see me ; they took the child from me, and now 
I felt safe from danger, I found myself unable to move or to assist myself in 
any degree. Whereupon the people took me and carried me out of the boat to 
the house of Mr. Cortus. 

Here, when I felt I was secure from the ravages and cruelties of the 
l)arbariaii8, for the first time since my captivity, my feelings returned with all 
their poignancy! When I was dragged from my bed, and from my home, a 
prisoner with the savages ; when the inhuman butchers dashed the brains of one 
of my dear children out on the door sill, and afterwards scalped him before my 
eyes ; when they took and tomahawked, scalped and stabbed another of them 
before me, on the island ; — and when, with still more barbarous feelings, they 
afterwards made a hoop and stretched his scalp on it ; — nor yet, when I endured 
liLinger, cold, and nearly nakedness, and at the same time ray infant sucking my 
very blood to support it, I never wept ! ! ! No! it was too, too much for nature! 
A tear then would have been too great a luxury ! And it is more than probable, 
that tears at these seasons of distress, would have been fatal in their con- 
sequences : for savages despise a tear ! But now that my danger was removed, 
and I was delivered from the pangs of the barbarians, the tears flowed freely, 
and imparted a hapiness beyond what I ever experienced before, or ever expect 
to experience in this world ! 

When f was taken into the house, having been so long from fire, and 
having endured so much from hunger, for a long period ; the heat of the 
tire, and the smell of the victuals, which the kindness of the people immediately 
induced them to provide for me, caused me to faint. Some of the people 
attempted to restore me, and some of them put some clothes upon me. But 
the kindness of these friends would in all probability have killed me, had it 
not been for the providential arrival from down the river of Major McCulley, 
who then commanded the line along the river. When he came in and saw my 
situation, and the provisions they were making for me, he became greatly 
alarmed, and immediately ordered me out of the house from the heat and smell- 
— prohibited my taking anything but the whey of butter-milk, and that in very 
small quantities, which he administered with his own hands. Through this 
judicious management, of my almost last situation, I was mercifully restored 
again to my senses and ver}' gradually to my health and strength. 

Two of the females, Sarah Carter and Mary Anne Crozier, then began to 
take out the thorns from my feet and legs ; 'and Mr. Felix Nigley, who now lives 
at the mouth of Bull creek, twenty miles above Pittsburgh, stood by and counted 
the thorns, as the women took them out ; and there were one hundred and fifty 
drawn out ; though they were not all extracted at that time, for the next 
evening at Pittsburgh there were many more taken out. The flesh was mangled 
dreadfully, and the skin and flesh were hanging in pieces, on my feet and legs. 
The wounds were not healed for a considerable time. Some of the thorns 

y3 



went through my feet and cuiuo out uii the lop. For two weeks I was unable 
to put my feet to the ground to walk. 

Besides whicli, tlie rain to which I was exposed by night, and the heat of 
tlie sun to which my ahiiost naked body was exposed by day, together with my 
carrying my child so long in my arms without any relief, and without any 
shelter from the heat of the day, or the storms of the night, caused nearly all 
the skin of my body to come off, so that my body was raw nearly all over. 

The two men's tracks which I had followed down the run, referred to 
before, and which made me so much afraid, were two spies, James Amberson 
and John Thompson, who arrived at the station very soon after me. 

The news of my arrival at the station spread with great rapidity. The two 
spies took the intelligence that evening as far as Coe's station, and the next 
morning to Keed's station, to my husband. It also reached Pittsburgh that 
same evening. And the next morning a young man who was employed by the 
Magistrates of Pittsburgh, came for me to go immediately to town to give in my 
deposition, that it might be published to the American people. Being unable 
to walk, or ride on horse-back, some of the men took me and carried me into a 
canoe on the river, and took me down in this manner ; and when I arrived in 
Pittsburgh, I was taken from the canoe in the arms of the men, to the office of 
John Wilkins, Esquire, the father of the Hon. Wm. Wilkins, Judge of the 
United States Court. The deposition which I then gave in, was published 
through tlie Union in the different newspapers of the day, and has since been 
preserved, and may be read in Loudon's Narratives of Outrages by the Indians, 
Vol. 1, page 85. 

As the intelligence spread, the town of Pittsburgh, and the country ftir 
twenty miles around was all in a state of commotion. About sunset the same 
evening my husband came to see me in Pittsburgh, and I was taken back to 
Coe's station on Tuesday morning. In the evening I gave the account ot the 
murder of my boy on the island. The next morning (Wednesday) there was a 
scout went out and found it by my directions and buried it, after being 
murdered nine days. 



In the revolution of human affairs, it not unfrcquently hap])ens, that circum- 
stances which are sma'l in themselves are over-ruled by the lloral Governour 
of the Universe^ so as in no small degree to contribute in the accomplishment of 
very important events. The circumstances of the Western Country at this 
period of its history, 7'cjM«wrf much individual suffering, before general bless- 
ings could abound. It is no small alleviation of our individual sufferings, if we 
are enabled to see, that they in any measure contributed to a general good. 

In reflecting upon the events which contributed to the iinal liberation of 
this country, from the deadly rifle, the tomahawk and the scalping knife of the 
Indians, I have the felicity of believing, that the sufferings which were recited 
in the preceding chapter, had some small share in bringing about a successful 

94 



issuo; as they tended to give fresh impulse to those who were already engaged 
in the conflict, and to engage others in it 

On tlie Tuesday after my arrival at Coe's station, I was taken before the 
ofticers and spies who were stationed on the frontiers, and very strictly examined 
respecting the number and designs of the savages ; the situations of their 
camps, and their prospects and anticipations as far as I had become acquainted 
with them. Upon the imformation which I was enabled to give them, there was 
a party of scouts consisting of one hundred and thirty men, and twelve spies, 
commanded by Major McCulley, and Captains Guthrie and Stevenson, immedi- 
ately raised and started for Coe"s station, in pursuit of the Indians. 

This party explored the woods, and at length with considerably difficulty, 
thev found the camp which I had described to them ; and ascertained that it 
was as large, and apparently as much frequented as I had represented it to be. 
Hut the Indians had fled from it, doubtedly. under the apprehension that my 
escape from them would lead to their detection. After ten days range through 
the wilderness, and not finding any of the savages, the party returned again, 
without being able to accomplish anything. 

The circumstances which transpired during my absence, were awful in the 
extreme; the account of which was communicated to me upon my return. 
Now, I was informed my dear child that was scal])ed, tomahawked and stabbed, 
lived in agony, notwithstanding -the inhuman treatment which he received, for 
two days. 

Tlie Indians who left us and went towards Puckety, went on to the house 
of John ('urry, and plundered, and burnt it, and burnt the barn and all in it ; 
and the family veiy narrowly escaped. They were alarmed while they were in 
bed and fled from their habintion nearly naked. When the savages foundtio 
one in the house, and were consequently unable to gratify their savage thirst 
for blood upon human victims, they went and killed and scalped the calves, 
and hung the scalps on poles, and shot arrows into the cows. 

After they had committed all the depredations and acts of cruelty which 
they were able, at Mr. Curry's, the savages went on to Puckety. But the news 
of their depredations went before them, and the inhabitants were flying in every 
direction. They had not proceeded much more than a mile up the creek, when 
they fell in with the families of Mr. Flails and Mr. Mellons, who were flying 
from the savages. The Indians immediately flred upon then and wounded the 
two men, and old Mrs. Flails, and took the eldest daughter of Flails, a prisoner. 
Her name is Elizabeth. And with Miss Flails, they took the horses belonging 
to the two families, and all their plunder, and burnt the house of Mr. Hugh 
Mellons. 

Fifty or sixty women and children, who had fled from their respective 
houses from their murderous enemies, for safety, collected together that night. 
at the house of Mr. M'Glochland, where the Indians came in the night, and 
took a number of horses frohi a field by the house. In the evening Mr. John 
Anderson and son went from the house of Mr. M'Glouchland, to their own 
house, a little distance, to settle a little business, after which on their return to 
their company, as they were coming to the fence, to cross the foot way to come 
to the house, the gun of young Anderson most unaccountable went off; for 

95 



notliing WHS fartlier from their wish than firing at such a time as this ; but upon 
this providential fire, seven or eight savages started up a few yards from tliem, 
and run off with all speed, doubtless imagining, that their ambush was 
discovered, and that they were in danger. But the going off of the gun cannot 
be accounted for, only as it was the merciful and miraculous interposition of 
Divine Providence, for the preservation of their lives, and the lives of others. 
Those who had fled to this situation, feeling that it would be unsafe for them to 
remain there any longer, before daylight the next morning fled, in a most 
deplorable situation, from the frontiers to the inhabited part of the country. 

The Indians on this day went on plundering a quantity of horses, and 
everything they could meet with, but they were not able to kill any white per- 
son ; but on the next day, that is Thursday 24rth, they killed Bartholomew Gar- 
vey, about fifty rods from Chamber's station. Garvey was on his way to Reed's 
station, with two horse loads of bacon, for the garrison there, when the Indians 
fired on him and killed him. 

There was now a considerable scout out after the savages, for their depre- 
dations or murders had roused the country, and induced it to put all its ener- 
gies into operation ; hence on this day they were so closely pursued that they 
had to kill a stud horse which they had plundered. They ran a sword into the 
body of the horse, and left him in that situation ; but before the poor animal 
was dead the scouts came up to them. During the remainder of this week they 
were so closely pursued by the whites, that they were unable to do any more 
mischief in this neighborhood. In the week following they took from a corn- 
field of Samuel Homes, on Crf)oked creek, his son and daughter, and bore them 
away prisoners. This was the last depredation the savages were able to make 
this summer on the Allegheny. About five weeks after this, my busband, being 
one of the spies, was out with one of the scouts, when they fell in with an 
Indian about Puckety, and killed him, as he was in the act of firing on them 
and thus my husband, to revenge the murder of his children, scalped him. 
This was the only injury which we were able to do the Indians through this 
summer. 

Elizabeth Flails, whose captivity by the savages was mentioned in a preced- 
ing page, after sixteen months absence, was again restored to her friends. She 
now lives on the waters of Buftaloe, in Armstrong county. Pa., and has given 
the following account of her captivity, escape, &c., &c. 

She says that the Indians took her across the Kiskiminetas, and in the forks 
of the Kiskiminetas and the Allegheny, because they were so closely pursued 
by the white people, they hid her there three days. While she was in this 
retreat, she says, she saw white people every day. On the fourth day they took 
her up the river for a considerable distance, there they made a bark canoe, in 
which they took her across the river. This day tliey killed a deer and dressed 
some of the meat, and the smell of the meat made her faint, for she had been 
from the time of her captivity without food. 

While they were in this place, the two Indians from whom I made my 
escape came to them, and showed them the scalp of the boy they had taken. 
They stated that the white people had come upon them, and took the uwrnan 
away from them. This refers to me, and this was the way they accounted for 

96 



in}' escape from tlie Indians. Miss Flails said she knew a sliawl of mine wliicli 
one of tlieni had about his neck. The savages told her they must alter their 
course, as there were white people after them. 

A little before the sun went down, slio said, they came upon a track of a 
person, who was travelling without an\'tiiing upon the feet. When they saw 
this they were struck with astonishment, and one of the savages followed the 
track till dark. At dark they rang a bell, and made a noise like owls, to bring 
him back to his party again. When he came back he said he had heard eitiier 
the cry of a child or young bear, he could not toll which ; but said he listened, 
and examined for a long time, but could hear nothing afterwards. 

This was without doubt the very Indian who pursued me, and the cry which 
he heard vras that of my child vfhen I put him down to collect some leaves to 
make a bed. Doubtless this was the man who remained near me so long, when 
I took my child, hid him in my bosom, and hid him in the boughs of a tree as 
before mentioned. 

Miss Flails says, that she was claimed by one of the Indians for a sister, 
in the room of one he had lost by death; and she was adopted into his family, 
as his sister; according to the mode of adoption among them. They took her 
to Guyahaugha, and there she had to hoe corn a little; but the Indian who 
claimed her as his sister, was remarkably good to her. From hence they went 
to the river to the traders, who came to deal with them and receive their booty. 
She said she had a desire to speak to the trader, to see if there were any 
]irobability of escaping with them; but it came to the last day of their stay, 
and she almost dispaircd of an opportunity. When she had almost given up 
the hope, she went to the spring by the side of the river, and the trader saw 
her there, and had a desire to speak to her, and she came to him, and the plot 
was laid for her to escape that night at 9 o'clock. At the appointed hour, she 
went to the river, and crossed it before the trader came for her. But he came 
according to appointment, took her, and hid her for two nights and one day; 
during which time the Indians made every search within their power, but all in 
vain When he was ready to start with his cargo, he came and dressed her in 
ins own clothes, and put a gun in her hand, and took her right through the 
camp of the Indians, at a late hour of the night, and she was not detected 
notwithstanding all their vigilance. 

The Trader then took her to Detroit, and she was there furnished with 
clothing, and there she remained till the June following; he then took her with 
another of the Indians' prisoners, which he had brought with him that spring, 
through the wilderness, to Bald Eagle Valley, on the Susquehannah, to his own 
house, and then she wrote to her father, and her father went and brought her 
home to his own house again ; where she was received almost as one from the 
dead. He also brought the other liberated woman with him. 



After these scenes of trial, privation and distress had passed over, the 
privation we had suffered in the complete plunder of all our property, bv the 

97 



savages, left us entireh' destitute of the necessaries of life; so that when we 
settled down at Coe's station, among: comparative straogers, we had to begin 
anew. Here I had to enter upon hard labour in washing, «&c., for the men at 
the station, to procure a livelihood. In this station, which is about seventeen 
miles above Pittsburgh, I remained nearly three years. 

The remaining part of the year '92 passed over without any material injury 
being added to the last which has been before related. There were numerous 
alarms, and the inhabitants frequently tied from their plantations to the station 
for safety. During the whole season there was a strong guard kept up at the 
station, commanded by Major McCulley. 

In the year 1793, the army under the command of the gallant General 
Wayne, so completely occupied the attention of the Indians, that they were 
unable to commit any depredations upon the frontiers;, hence this season passed 
over without any material depre(Jations having been committed upon the 
frontiers. 

In 1794 the savages again made their appearance, and commenced their 
horrid work of pillage, spoliation and murder. 

In June, they attacked a canoe going up the Allegheny river to Franklin, 
and killed John Carter and wounded William Cousins and Peter Kinner, but 
they were unable to obtain the scalp of either of them; for the man they killed, 
instead of falling over-board, fell into the canoe, and the men who were 
wounded, paddled the canoe out of their reach. 

Two or three days after this, the savages attacked the boat of Captain 
Sharp, as he was descending the Kiskiminetas river, about fifteen miles from 
its mouth. In the attack which they made on Captain Sharp's boat, the savages 
were but too successful, for they killed four of his men, and mortally wounded 
the Captain himself, who survived the wounds which he received for several 
weeks, but died of them in Pittsburgh. The boat in which they were killed and 
wounded, floated down the stream, entered the Allegheny, and passed two 
stations in the night, without being discovered, or without the assistance of any- 
one on board to steer, or to row her; and came opposite to Mr. Thomsis Gurty's, 
a little below the mouth of Deer creek; wlien the fourth man died, and when 
the women who were in the boat, fearing that the Captain was about to expire, 
and that they were to be left alone, called to the people on shore for their assist- 
ance; who immediately put off a boat to their assistance, and brought their boat 
to the shore. 

Four of the ujen had wives i!i the boat with them. The>i€ iiiere compelled to 
vntness the rnarder of their /lusbands and to set in their blood, as it fimoed freely 
and warm from their veins. The wife of Captain Guthrie, who was in the boat 
with her husband, was shortly after she arrived in Pittsburgh, delivered of her 
ninth child. The men who brought the boat to shore, after they had made 
every arrangement they were able, took the boat to Pittsburgh. 

When the boat was first attacked by the savages, one of the men belonging 
to it was on shore taking care of the horses, which they were bringing to town. 
He witnessed the attack which the savages made upon his comrades, but found 
it impossible to render them anj' assistance, or to get into the boat. He, there- 
fore, left all the horses behind him and ran off as fast as he was able, and two 

98 



Indians iit'ter liiiii, who pursued hiui so closely, lluit lie could distiiictlv liear 
tliern following liini. They kept up the pursuit, till 11 o'clock at night, when 
finding themselves unable to get up to hitn, tiiey gave over their chase. He 
however, kept on his route, and arrived in Pittsburgh before the boat. 

In those days of danger and trouble, notwithstanding all my former suffer- 
ing from Indian barbarity, my iuisband on the 15th day of December tliis 
year, (1794,) moved me out on the waters of Bull creek, about two miles below 
where I now reside, to settle a tract of land. In the creek bottom a log iiouse 
was raised for me to live in, but it had neither floor nor loft, nor was it either 
chunked or daubed. Here during a severe winter, I lived, or rather dragged 
out a miserable existence, with three small children to care for. My husband 
was at tliis time a spy, and only came home from iiis employment once in 
seven or eight days. In this dreary and desolate situation, I was seven miles 
from the abode of any white person, and more frequently' saw wolves, than 
any of the human species. 

In the spring of 1795, 1 became so much ahunied and afraid of an 
attack from the Indians, (remembering well what 1 had endured from their 
savage cruelty already,; that my husband was under the necessity of removing 
me from this dangerous situiition, to the mouth of Butialoe creek, at what was 
called Gregg's station. 

Here live women and thirteen children lived together in peace. All 
the men at the station being out endeavoring to ascertain the movements of 
the savages. This station was the place of their general rendezvous. Some- 
times they would repair to it of an evening, and sometimes we were left 
alone. 

Nothing particularly occurred until about the middle of May, when one 
evening as we were about to call the cows to milk, we observed them at a 
point of a hill, and the hindmost was coming apparently much frightened, and 
the dogs began most fearfully to bark. With tiie deepest of anxiety we 
stood at the door of the station and listened, and distinctly iieard wliiMllng 
on a r/ianjrr, in difl'erent directions as fast as they could respond. 

At this time we were in a very defenceless situation, having neither man 
nor gun, and being perfectly unprepared for an attack. We hastened into 
the house to consult what was best to be done. Most of the women were 
dreadfully afraid and anticipated nothing but death, or that which was more 
to be dreaded than death. All concluded if we remained at the station till 
day we should be murdered. 

I then proposed that each woman should take her own children and take a 
blanket, and go into the woods apart, and there secret ourselves till the 
morning. 

This proposition was no sooner made, but it was rejected. The rest objected 
to leaving me, believing that 1 was the best able to plot a retreat and escape, 
having before been so much accustomed to scenes of trial. 

What steps to take we were at a lose to determine, for our situation was as 
defenceless at the river as it was at the station ; for provided we could 
ever gain the river, we had no craft, but a Perogue, without anything to 
work it, but oars, and they were so large that it was impossible for us to work 

99 



them. I tlieii requested two of the women to take 8oiiie beds to the boat, and 
take the children and put them on the beds, while I went with two more women 
to the boat, and placing the oars under water to prevent any noise, with a hand, 
saw I cut the oars in two, so that I was able to make paddles of them with a 
draw-knife. This being accomplished, we all got into the Perogue ; but 
no one was able to do anything towards managing it but Mrs. Mahaffry and 
myself, and we were entire strangers to the river; consequently, wlien we came 
to the point of the island, a mile below Buffaloe, we ran aground and landed 
on the island. Here we concluded we would spread our beds on the ground 
and lie down till morning. But we no sooner came to this conclusion, than we 
beheld a fire kindled on the top of the bank, on the Indian side of the river. 
We could distinctly see men walking around the fire, and hence concluded that 
it would not be safe to remain where we were till morning, least we should be 
seen, pursued and murdered. We therefore waded into the water, and exerted 
ourselves till we succeeded in getting the boat back into the stream again, and 
went down the stream as far as Owen's station, and here we again ran 
aground, and got into such difiBculties that we were unable to extricate ourselves 
from them, at the same time the sky lowered for rain, and it began to tiuinder 
and lightning very dreadfully. 

Here we were compelled to remain till the morning. We took the beds out 
of the boat, and all the company laid down but myself and an infant at my 
breast. I took my station, with my infant in my arms, at the point of the hill, 
watching till morning ; when morning came I went and woke those who had 
laid down. One of the women went and called to some white men who had 
collected on the island to raise corn, and succeeded in making them acquainted 
with our distressed situation ; eight or ten of whom came and released us from 
our dangers and fears. 

The men of the station came home the next day, and came and took us 
back again to the station. The Indians, however, committed no depredations 
for five or six days from this. It was supposed they found they had been 
detected, and therefore, did not attempt anything. At the end of five or six 
days, they came back and began to chase the horses within a few rods of the 
house. But by this time a force of forty men had collected at the station, and 
therefore we were not so apprehensive of personal injury. But we could hear 
them chasing the horses most of the night. Some of the horses escaped to the 
house and two of them crossed Buffaloe creek, and ran. to Coe's station. The 
men were watching during the night, on and about the house; in the morning 
they pursued the savages, so that they were unable to take away any horses. 

This was the last attack the Indians ever made on the banks of the Alle- 
gheny for plunder or murder. From this time the frontiers enjoyed repose, 
and were enabled to pursue the cultivation of their soil, each man sitting under 
his own vine and fig tree, without molestation or dread. 

In tiie fall of this year, having defeated the Indians, General Wayne made 
a treaty with them, which they have found to be to their advantage and safety 
to regard. 

On the 17th of August, I again went back to my last winters quarters on 
Bull creek, and still remained without neighbours, till the cold weather, when 

100 



two families, one about three miles, and the other about four distant, came and 
settled. The one namely, Mr. Ezekicl Davy, is now living on the same plan- 
tation on which he then settled. These were the onlv neighbours we had till 
1796. 

Since those days of privation and sorrow, I have been a widow, to care for 
a numerous family. Vicissitudes and sorrow have still marked my journey 
through life. But having obtained help from God, I continue to the present 
day, and in the midst of all my judgments and trials I have cause to bless the 
name of the Lord for his deliverance and his mercies. 




101 



Allegl^epy City fi*oir^ a S^r^itary poii^t of VieW. 




=%=^ N 1755, Lord Talbot, a prisoner in old Fort Diiquesne, unable 
longer to endure the sight of Sergeant MacPherson being tortured 
by the Indians across the Allegheny, on what has since been 
called Smoky Island, fired a shot from where he stood, intending 
to kill the unfortunate sergeant outright. That bullet, meant to 
end the misery of the luckless prisoner, sped over water pure as 
a mountain spring. The territory behind, above and below that 
gravelly island whereon MacPherson a moment later died by the 
more successful shot of Captain Jack — territory destined to be, 
within a hundred years, the site of the prosperous City of Allegheny — was as 
healthy a locality to live in as any in the world. 

The pure, spring-fed mountain stream, the Allegheny, which Washington 
in. 1753 described as "a very rapid, swift-running water," flowed through 
territory on which a man of sound body and mind ougiit at that time to have 
been able, barring accidents and too much work, to live a hundred years. The 
sloping, wooded hills, the pure air, the unpolluted water, the total absence ot 
household filth, with which man in his progress and civilization surrounds 
liimself, pollutes his drinking water and inocculates himself — these things, with 
of course the favorable climate, made this place whereon Allegheny City now 
stands one of the world's choicest spots for man's habitation. 
It is not so to-daj'. 

Still, Allegheny as it is now. compares very favorably indeed with other 
cities of its size anywhere. Healthy, as applied to cities, is only a comparative 
term. All cities are more or.less unhealthy as compared to a place such as the 
site of the then undreamed of City of Allegheny at the time above referred to. 
It is impossible to aggregate one hundred thousand people on a few square 
miles of ground and still have as healthy a place to live as thoi»gh but a single 
individual occupied it. But by careful attention to the dictates of modern 
sanitarj' science, such an aggregation can be made fairly healthy. Taking it as 
it is to-day, considering its location, its topography, its parks, its wide, straiglit 
streets, the prosperity of its inhabitants, the scarcity of tenement houses, the 
absence of harmful industries, and the jyossihility of a pure water supply — 
considering all these things, Allegheny ought to be an ideal of municipal 
sanitation. As a matter of fact, it is not such a very long way from being so. 
,\11 that is necessary to make it as healthy as it is possible for a city to be is to 
fully equip the Board of Health, supplying it with the necessary money to push 



102 



ahead more tliorouglily flie good work it is now doing. Dr. T. L. Hazzard 
and the other able gentlemen wlio, (•(in.-^idering their opportunities, are 
succeeding well in tlieir endeavor to better tlie sanitary condition of the city, 
are making a good siiowing. Some interest manifested by the people, and an 
evidence on their part of a determination to assist the Board of Health, both 
bj seeing to an adequate approjiriation and by personal endeavor, would be of 
material assistance. A certain apathy of the public, an antagonism almost, to 
matters of general city sanitation stands much in the way. A new municipal 
building is a more important matter in many persons' eyes than clean streets 
and good sewers. Compared to the East End of Pittsburgh, that other 
fashionable residence district, Allegheny City is far the healthier place to live, 
as shown by the recent mortality statistics. This state of things is due to tbe 
more complete sewerage system, and especially to the greater natural 
advantages for drainage possessed by the North Side. When one considers the 
health of certain portions of Allegheny which are poorly, if at all sewered, the 
natural adaptation of the city site becomes apparent. For instance, the triangle 
having Allegheny avenue for its base. Ridge avenue and Rebecca street for its 
sides. This district has a very poor sewerage system, and were it not for the 
topographical adaptation of the locality, its mortality would be frightful. The 
same holds true of njany portions of the hill districts. 

It is no criticism oii the Municipal Board of Health to call public attention 
to some things yet required to bring Allegheny up to what it ought to be in a 
sanitary way. Any sanitarian will grant that it (-an be made the healthiest 
city in the country. Then, looked at in detail, what remains to be done to 
make it so ? 

Tlie first and most urgent need is a pure and plentiful water supply. True 
it is that this matter has been brought before the public almost ad nauseimi. 
Still, the impression exists that the impurity of the present supply has been 
over-rated. '"For,"' many agree, ■' if the water is so awfully bad, why are we 
not all dead ? We have been drinking this water for years and yet we are 
living." These people always lose sight of the fact that susceptible individuals 
have been dying for years of typhoid fever, and, likely, other preventable 
diseases resulting from contaminated drinking water. The fact that every one 
lias not had typhoid fever is simply due to the insusceptability of some persons 
to the disease. Every one exposed to its germs does not get typhoid fever anj' 
more than every one exposed to the germs of diphtheria, scarlet fever or small 
p<ix contracts these maladies. Yet to argue therefrom that these diseases are 
not communicable by contagion would be granted erroneous. It is only the 
susceptible individuals, or rather individuals who are in a susceptible condition 
at the time of exposure, that contract infectious diseases. But no further 
argument on this subject seems necessary at this late day. Besides, City 
Councils have taken the matter in hand, and doubtless if they and the people 
push it forward, Allegheny will eventually have a good water supply, and not 
one drawn like the present from below the mouths of several filthy sewers — a 
water supply that is simply diluted sewage, and not very highl}' diluted either. 
Ultimately the question of pure water supply in both city and country must 
resolve itself into a question of water purification, for. with the advance of 

J 03 



population, tlie possibility of a pure natural supply lessens. Without the 
development of some unfoiseen factor the increase of the human race will 
eventually render pollution of all natural water sources unavoidable. Neverthe- 
less, the plan of snpply at present laid out by City Councils promises for some 
time to come, at least, considerable improvement over the ])resent supply. 

In addition to purity, a city water supply ought to be abundant. There 
ought to be plenty of water to wash the streets regularly by hose attached to 
fire plugs, thus cleaning away decaying and decayable organic matter, both 
animal and vegetable, that forms the pabulum tor the propagation of disease 
germs. In connection with this matter of water supply, theoretically it would 
seem that the park wells, so beneficently put down, were not safe on account of 
the possibility, nay, pi-obability of contamination by percolation of cesspool 
and surface filth, both of which are abuiulaiit in dangerous proximity to the 
wells. 

In the matter of ice supply, which is closelj' related hygienically to water 
supply, Allegheny is fairly well off. Still some very dangerously polluted ice 
finds a way into its markets. 

Next in importance to the matter of pure and abundant water supply, 
comes the necessity for a good and efiicient system of sewerage. In very 
sparsely populated districts desiccation and oxidation by exposure to the sun 
and air are sufticient riddance for all kinds of house refuse. But with a 
hundred thousand people on a few square miles of ground, this is of course 
impossible. Therefore some scientific disposition of house refuse and all waste 
organic matteis becomes imperative. And in seeking a method we ought not 
to decide on emptying our filth and garbage into our downstream neighbors' 
drinking watei-. Still, if this proves to be the only practicable method, then it 
reduces down-stream conmmnities to the necessity of water purification, which, 
as before stated, will be the ultimatum of pure water supply. The dangers 
incident to living in the vicinity of a sewage polluted stream will, however, 
remain. The Davis Island Dam increases this danger for Allegheny, besides 
rendering its water supply less pure — two effects due to slacking the current of 
the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, which, if swiftly flowing, as they were naturally, 
would wash away and cari'y off filth and garbage that now linger along the 
shores and sedimentate without oxidation. The garbage furnace and sewage 
farm, respectively' very wasteful and very economical methods of disposal, have 
each their objectionable features, whicli (especially those of the sewage farm) 
will probably soon be overcome by the eminent sanitaiy engitieei's at present 
at work on their development. 

Coming next in importance to, and intimately connected with the question 
of sewage disposal, is the matter of streets and their cleanliness. To begin 
with, no city thoroughfare ought to be level ; a sloping street drains well and 
tends to keep itself clean. In this respect Allegheny has natural advantages. 
Not only are its streets wide and straight, but they are for the most part 
sloping. Yet natural advantages alone are not enough ; artificial aid is 
necessary. From a sanitary point of view, street pavements should be of the 
asphaltum variety, and should extend from one house line across to the other — 
sidewalk (slightly elevated) and all being of the asphaltum material. If this 

104 



were done, keeping the streets clean and free from dust and filth would be a 
simple matter. There would be no crevices in which decayable organic matter 
could h'dge and furnish a nidus for disease germs; only a small amount of 
water would be necessary to wash the surface clean, thus it would not take much 
water to cleanse the city every night ; and hill streets would be nicely washed 
i)y every rain. A city paved as Allegheny (and almost every other city) is now, 
is deprived of the natural cleansing powers of a dashing rain. Instead of being 
cleansed, cobblestone, and less so granite block pavements, are made a source 
of atmospheric poison, bv the fermentation favored by moisture in the masses 
of organic matter lodged in tlie chinks between the stones. True, to some 
extent this organic matter could be waslied from a stone pavement, but the 
washing would require too gi'eat an amount of water to be used all over a city, 
and, besides, a cleanly washed s*one pavement is very noisy and exceedingly 
hard on horses' feet — three matters entitled to consideration. Any one who 
wants to see to what a superficial extent a cobblestone pavement can be washed 
has only to stand for a few moments at any place where one is being taken up. 
There he will find that the gravel for eighteen inches beneath the stones is a 
stinking mass of filth that has been filtered from percolating surface water. 

Additional advantages of an asphaltum pavement are apparent ; such as 
doing away with the distracting rattle and jar of vehicles, which is a factor in 
the production of nervous prostration, a disease induced in some cases by the 
noise and tumult, in others by riding constantly over the rough, rocky streets. 
A number of Allegheny physicians have suffered from nervous prostration from 
this cause, without which overwork would alone not have been sufiicient. On 
an asphaltum pavement the pattering of the horses' feet might be slightly more 
apparent, but it would be as nothing compared to the jar, bang and rattle of 
vehicles, especially wagons, passing over a cobblestone or granite block 
pavement. On an asphaltum pavement the loudest i-attling wagon runs, 
metaphorically, in a whisper. In these days when everything in life tends to 
put the nervous system on the highest tension, we ought to avail ourselves of 
the chance to do away with one contributing cause of many ills and of that 
rapidly increasing malady, nervous prostration. Then again the dust which 
could be washed from an asphaltum pavement, and which is always more 
abundant on a stone pavement on account of the impossibility of removal, is 
a prominent factor in the production of catarrh and other diseases of the 
respiratory passages. 

This matter of pavements has been referred to here at some length, because 
during the present active agitation of the subject in Allegheny and Pittsburgh, 
the sanitary aspect of the question has not been referred to. Apart from 
sanitary considerations, men who know say that a good asphaltum pavement is 
cheaper than a granite block pavement, and only requires one-fourth the horse 
power for the traction of any given wagon load. 

Incidentally, it might here be mentioned that noisy electric cars have the 
same effect on the nervous system that the other noises due to stone pavements 
have. Of course it may be said that if people did not work so hard and 
othenvise took better care of themselves, their nervous systems would not 
suffer from, or, indeed, be at all affected by the noise. But any student of 

lUo 



human nature will agree tliat it is easier to pave the streets with asphaltum, or 
gold, even, than to change the nature and habits of that queer animal, man. 

Stagnant water in gutters and alleys, generally saturated with filth, is a 
prevalent nuisance calling for attention. This condition it is possible, but 
difficult, for the Board of Health to relieve. The only proper remedy is good 
streets that can be washed, and from which the water will readily flow. Fifth 
and garbage in vacant lots are being done away with by the Board of Health, 
and also by the house-builder, who is rapidly doing away with the vacant lot 
altogether. 

Cesspools that drain away through the grave] bed underlying much of the 
city are death-traps that should be abolished. Water closets and stationary 
washstands are elements of danger ; for though traps in waste pipes are good 
they are not perfect, and therefore are unsafe. They check the ingress of 
sewer gas, but do not stop its entrance altogether. In this connection it is 
well to remember what was stated of contaminated water, that not every one 
exposed to the possibility of disease is attacked. Therefore it is no argument 
against the danger of stationary washstands and water closets in the house, 
that a population using these contrivances is not disseminated thereby. 

The sanitary condition of the public schools is not quite what it should be ; 
yet there has recently been much improvement in this respect. Some system 
providing free ventilation without direct draught on some of the pupils (as is 
the case from a window) is an urgent necessity in most of the ward schools. 
Mortality among children is much increased by mothers allowing one or more 
of their children to attend school while others are at home sick with contagious 
diseases, such as scarlet fever, diphtlieria, etc. 

In the way of a general provision market where a supply of fresh, 
wholesome meat, vegetables and country produce can be obtained, Allegheny 
is one of the most fortunate cities in the world. The milk supply is, on the 
whole, very good also ; and the same may be said of other dairy products. 
Exceptions to this of course exist, and impure dairy productions and other food 
stuffs are marketed, but the same conditions exist pretty much everywhere. It 
will take time to develop enforcable regulations in regard to these matters. 
Some good work is now being done in this direction. 

More shade trees along the streets would be a sanitary improvement. 
Trees and similar forms of vegetable life utilize in their growth waste animal 
products, carbonic acid gas, organic filth of all kinds, and similar matters 
deleterious to the health of man. Of course, in cities, a sufficient quantity of 
vegetation to utilize all these deleterious matters is out of the question ; but in 
so far as trees are present, they act beneficially in this way. Further, they are, 
by their color, soothing to the tired eye, and grateful by being pleasing to the 
senses, breaking the monotony of dull red bricks. In addition, they make the 
summer's heat more tolerable to the pedestrian. 

The recent extensive tearing up of the streets, and excavating for the 
erection of buildings have made the city mortality a little higher, probably, 
than it would otherwise have been ; but these are necessary evils. Their 
deleterious effect on health would, however, have been very much less if the 
city were otherwise in good sanitary condition ; especially so if the gravel bed 

100 



that is laid bare by tliese dif^gings liad not for years been used as a sewer and 
drain for cesspool and surface tilth. 

Taking it all in all, Allegheny is a very liealthy city ; but that is no 
argument against making it more so. and it is believed that if the improvements 
here suggested were followed, and the people were a little more attentive to 
sanitary matters, the mortality rate could be made the lowest of any municipality 
of its size anywhere. It is not too much to say that instead of a mortality of 
about eighteen deaths per thousand inhabitants, the records could be made to 
show in the neighborhood of nine deaths per thousand ; and this by, in a great 
measure, stamping out preventable diseases. There is no justification for any 
city having a case of typhoid fever, for instance, and the time will come when, 
owing to the extensive application of the dictates of practical sanitary science, 
this and other preventable diseases will be rare, very rare. 

But this will never be as long as the public are satisfied with a death 
rate of eighteen per thousand, moderate though it is. 




107 




The Seini~6entennial Celebration. 



JULY IT. 15SO. 




109 



T'^^ ^en^i-^cntcpi^ial ^clebratioi>. 




T was at ilawii on the I7tli ilav ot' .liilv. IsHi). that Alloglieiiy 
awoke to celebrate tlie fiftieth anniversary of lier corporate exist- 
ence. We will climb up to one of the many points of vantage 
offered by the surrounding hills and take a birds-eye view of the 
city at sunrise. She had gone to bed robed in herbirtiiday dress, 
so that on the morrow no time should be lost in making her 
toilet. She had been washed and scrubbed, combed and decorated 
until she was tiie most beautifal city in the land. Now witness 
her, bathed in the golden glory of the morning sun, her feet caressed by the 
glistening waves of two mighty rivers. 

We are doomed to disappointment ! It is half i)ast live. An impenetrable 
curtain of mist hangs over the city at our feet. The intense heat of the preceding 
day, supplanted by a cool night and a chilling morning air, have done it. Streets 
and house tops, even the tallest church spire, are immerged in that surging sea 
of grayish vapor, out of which the black, treeless crowns of the rugged hills on 
the other side of the river loom up sphinx-like. Far away down the river, there 
is a rend in the fog, where you can see the smoking waters of the Ohio disappear 
around a sweeping curve. Nothing else is discernable. The outlook is utterly 
dismal, and we are as utterly disgusted with ourselves and the rest of the world, 
Allegheny included. The very thought of getting out of bed at an unearthly 
hour and climbing up a steep hill to look down upon an ocean of dirty white 
fog is exasperating. 

It is now six o'clock and no sign of the fog lifting. Suddenly, almost like 
a flash of ligiitning, a ray of sunlight cleaves the mist and shoots its golden 
arrows into the very heart of the fog-submerged city beneath us. As if by 
magic, the vapory curtain is torn to shreds, and two minutes later, the sun, 
already half an hour high, shines out in all its splendor and pours a flood of 
golden light upon the magnificent panorama spread out before us. 

"What a lovely city ! what a superb frame I" is the involuntary exclamation 
of every lover of a fine view who beholds this grand prospect. There are the 
parks in the very center of the town, closed in by stately mansions. The contrast 
between their emerald green and the dark sea of surrounding houses is most 
striking. The glass roofs of the conservatories glisten in the sunshine. The 
placid surface of the artificial lakea])pears like a great shield of burnished steel. 
The great spouts of the fountains seem like bars ot pure silver as they ascend into 
the fragrant morning air. The broad streets intersecting each other at right 
angles, look almost white; in their cleanliness. The electric cars, driven by an 
invisible but irresistable power, can be seen moving swiftly along the main 

HI 



llioroughfares. An object of curiosity is the one tiiat is just now ascending the 
hteep hill to our left, and we wonder how the passengers can keep their seats. 
The Carnegie Library building, that gem of architectural art, is plainly visible 
in its emerald setting, and even at this distance attracts the eye by its noble pro- 
portions. The pyramidical light towers placed at I'egular intervals at the iiiter- 
section of streets, rearing their slender heads far above the tallest buildings, 
seem to stand guard over the city, as indeed they do — at night. 

But now the boom of cannon reminds us that it is time to descend if we do 
not wish to lose any of the sights the great day is to bring forth. No truer test 
can be applied to the prosperity of a city and the public spiritedness of its citizens 
than the celebration of an event which requires a sacrifice of time, money and 
comfort by those who participate. Allegheny is prosperous ! It is not yet nine 
o'clock, but already the streets are black with people. Men, women and children 
in their best clothes, wearing expectant faces, looking out of bright eyes, speaking 
with laughing lips, altogether a happy, contented, well dressed crowd, line the 
sidewalks. The streets are thronged with carriages, wagons, bands and 
organizations that are to take part in the parade, the first and most important 
event of the day. The surging mass gravitates toward the Diamond, and by ten 
o'clock the neighboring streets aie impassable. 

Allegheny's local pride was stirred to its inmost depths. That was evident 
from the decorations. The city was decked in a bewilderitig profusion of flags, 
bunting and evergi'eens. Almost from every house-top floated the Stars and 
Stripes. The City Hall was fairly covered with flags and bunting. Gi-eat 
streamers fell from the roof on all sides and were fastened near the ground in red, 
white and blue rosettes. A trio of flags fluttered from each of the numerous 
windows. The Carnegie Free Library building was almost hidden from view by 
flags and festooned bunting, intertwined with fanciful garlands of red, white and 
blue. The electric light towers were one of'the prettiest sights of tiie day. Their 
iron bodies were gaily decorated with tricolored garlands, winding all around 
them away up to the very top. From near the top of each to the ground were 
strings of Chinese lanterns. 

At the Federal street entrance to the Sixth street bridge a magnificent arch 
had been erected. It was formed of evergreens and immortelles, wound into 
legends and expressing patriotic sentiments. The wlio'e was surmounted by the 
American flag and coat of arms. 

At eleven o'clock Battery B flred a salute and Chief Marshal J . F. Beilstein 
gave the command for the procession to move. The co]iin)n formed in the streets 
at and adjacent to the Diamond and proceeded along the following route : 
Federal street to Church, to Cedar, to Washington, to Madison, to Liberty, 
to Chestnut, to Ohio, to James, to North, to Allegheny, to Locust, to Chartiers, 
to Eidge, to Marion, to Ohio, to Federal, and finished by passing in review at 
City Hall. Leading the procession was the Cathedral Brass Band, Chief Mar- 
shal Beilstein and staff of fifty mounted aids. The first division followed, 
commanded by Dr. H. K. Beatty; Frank J. Fleck, Adjutant General; Alfred 
E. Smith, Chief of Staff, and Charles Sorg, Adjutant. In this division were 
grouped the various military and G. A. R., and singing societies, American 
Mechanics, Turners and other organizations. The commander and staff, fol- 

112 



lowed b}' thirty mounted aids and the Grand Army Band, headed tiiis division, 
wliich turned down Federal street in tlie following order: 

ORDER OF THK I'ROCESSION. 

Wm. Thaw Council, Jr. O. U. A. M. 

Uniformed Rank, (). U. A. M. 

Homestead Band. 

Homestead Council, Jr. (). U. A. M. 

Reliable Council, Hildale Council, Jr. O. U. A. M. 

O. H. Berry Council, Jr. O. U. A. M. 

James Lyslc Bost, Sons of Veterans. 

Allegheny Band. 

Allegheny County Butchers' Association, '2h() strong. 

Germania Band. 

McKeesport Singing Society with Electric Band.. 

Superior Band. 

German Maennerchor Society. 

Cecilia Maennerchor Society, carrying Japanese Parasols. 

Lawrenceville Band. 

Lodges of Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 

Iron Citj^ Band. 

Members of Allegheny Turnverein. 

Turner's Educational Float, with School Children and the Motto, " Education 

Represents Liberty." 

The second grand division was commanded b}' David Hunter, Jr.; John 

Glenn, Adjutant General, and John Hastings, Chief of Stafi'. It moved in the 

following order : 

THE SECOND DIVISION. 

Great Western Band. 

Eight Mounted Police, commanded by Chief Murphy. 

One Hundred and Twenty-Five Patrolmen on Foot. 

Three Police Patrol Wagons. 

Carriages containing ex-Mayors Stuckrath, Peterson and Pearson. 

Carriage containing Mayors Wyman and H. I. Gourley. 

Carriage containing Orators ofthe Day. 

Carriage containing County Commissioners McKee and McWilliams, and 

Sherriff McCandless. 

Carriages containing Chairmen Ford and Holiday and other visitors. 

Forty-one Letter Carriers ofthe Allegheny Postoffice. 

Carriage containing ex-Postmasters Andrew Robinson, John A. Mylerand Jrlin 

Swan, and Postmaster Gilleland. 
Carriage containing Assistant Postmaster Clark and Chief ('IcM-k Mylerand 

Superintendent Mendel. 

Carriages, two abreast, containing Members of Select and Common Councils. 

Carriages containing City Officials. 

Carriages containing members ofthe Poor Board. 

Carriages containing members ofthe old Volunteer Fire Department. 

Carriages containing members of the Semi-Centennial Committee. 

11 3 



One Hundred and Fifty employes of tlie Street Department in wagons. 

Fifty employes of the Roads Department in wagons. 

Float representing the Roads Department in 1840. 

Machinery and wagons of the Street and Roads Departments. 

Wagon representing the Water Department in 1840. 

Float representing the Water Department in 1890. 

One HiHidred employes of the Water Department on foot. 

Carriage containing Chief Jones and Chairman Swindle, of the Fire Department. 

Steamers, Hose Carriages and Trucks of the Fire Department. 

Carriage containing Assistant Chief Clark and Clerk Hunter. 

An old road scraper, an ancient plow and other implements in use by the 
street department fifty years ago, were exhibited in a wagon in connection with 
the improved machinery of to-day. The water department of 1840 was represented 
by a large barrel fastened to a pair of cart wheels with a hose attached to tiie rear. 
A half century ago the citizens of the Northside were supplied in this manner, 
the water being taken from the river. The float representing the water depart- 
ment of 1890 consisted of a picture of the Allis & Lowry engines on canvas. 
In the center of the float, perched up high in the air, was a display fountain. It 
became entangled several times in the Pleasant Valley wires at street corners, 
but was extricated without damage. The citj' departments made a most 
creditable exhibit. 

In the third divison, comprising a grand industrial display, the enterprising 
business men of Allegheny entered into tlie spirit of the occasion with an 
enthusiasm and earnestness that made their exhibits one of the most interesting 
features of the parade. It was under the command of George N. Lacock, Marshal; 
with W. T. Bradbury as Adjutant General; Dr. S. S. Woodburn as Chief of 
Staff, and about fifty aids. The First regiment United American Mechanics' 
band, formerly known as the Post 162 Band, led the division ; then the Washing- 
ton Infantry, forty men, under command of Captain Shannon, as escort. 

At two o'clock in the afternoon the great mass meeting was held in West 
Park. Chairman Neeb called the meeting to order. The opening prayer was 
made by Rev. T. J. Leak. The meeting was then turned over to President 
James Hunter with the following list of Vice Presidents : 

Captain J. D. Walker, Robert Andrews, Henry Albrecht, Arch Alston, Robert Albree, John 
Arbuckle, John Aiken, David Arnheini, Colonel James Andrews, F. R. Bruuot, R. C. Beatty, 
James Brownlee.J.U. Barr, Professor John Brashear. Richard Brown, James Best, Willian Burchell, 
Utilles Baird, C. C. Boyle, Charles Becker, John Benson, Joseph D. Brown, Alfred Bungey, Cap- 
tain Robert Boles, Isaac Brown, Morgan Bryant, Harry Boyle, William Barklej', Alexander Beggs, 
Basil Barker, John A. Caughey, John Chalfant, Joseph Craig, Michael Cooper, Captain William 
Crider, J. M. Crider, William Chambers, George Cupps, Charles C. Cole, Josiah Cohen, William 
Criswell, Charles Campbell, Robert Caskej', Robert Culp, Henderson Davis, Richard Dewhurst, 
Charles Donnell, George W. Day, Hugh Danver, JamesJ. Donnell, Hance Dunlap, William Black- 
stocks John Dalzell, Captain James Boyd, Willis Dalzell, E. M. Byers, Samuel Dyer, Captain M. 
Day, Jacob Aochley, Charles Duvallen, G. N. HofFstott, Andrew Elliott, Jehu Haworth, Robert 
Enis, Captain W. Haslett, George W. Evans, William Hazlett, Joseph Eichbaum, George B. Hill, 
Captain W. Evans, Dr. James B. Herron, Prof. L. H. Eaton, Simpson Horner, Robert Elton, 
John Hanev, Dr. A. Fleming, Alex. Hanna, John Frazier, Campbell Herron, Captain C. H. 
Frisbee, Israel Hoag, Jacob Foreman, Charles Hawthorne, General Fitzhugh, Robert Hawthorne, 
Jacob A. France, R. T. Hawthorne, John C. Eisher, Charles Hutchinson, Charles Yerse, John 
Hutchinson, Henry Gerwig, George W. Hubley, Nathan Graham, John Huckenstein, Adolphus 

114 



Groetzingcr, B. F. Jennings, Stephen Geyer, James Home, Jonathan Gallagher, Barney Oray, 
Asher Guckenhcimer, Col. Joe Gerst, Michael (ieyer, Thomas Harper, Michael Hill, Captain 
William Hamilton, James Herdmau, Henry Holdship, John Kirkpatrick, Dr. John Kirker, John 
Logan, Robert Lea, Reuben Logan, General J. Lawrence, Ham. Lacock, Rudolph Lcidy, James 
Lindsay, Samuel Long, John Lemon, Fred Lehman, C. Lighthill, Hon. B. F. Jones, John B. 
Ingham, Sullivan Johnson, Porter Jackson, William Jackson, John Jahn, James Kerr, George A. 
JCelly, R H. King, Jacob Klec, Ralph Means, John Morlorn, William McClelland, Alex. McGil- 
very, J. N. McCuUough, John McDonald, Thomas McCance, E. V. McCandless, Laughlin, 
Mcintosh, David McKclvy, -V. P. McGrew, Johnston Mclntyre, Wilson Miller, D. Lutz, Robert 
Means, Stephen Mercer, John Martin, Reuben Miller, Sr.,john A. Myler, Martin MahalTey, Jacob 
Minehart, John Marlow, Captain W. W. Martin, William Mullin, T. M. Morrow, R. M. Mowry, 
L. Mutzig, Dr. T. Mabon, Alexander Moore, Arch Marshall, W. G. Muzzy, James McCutcheon, 
Captain JlcClusky, J. C. McConnick, John McKeowu, Samuel McGinniss, Joseph McNaugher, 
Samuel McXaugher, E. Nutt.iU, Richard Nuttall, David Neely, Alexander Neely, Robert Nauni- 
berg, John Osman, H. W. Oliver, Park Painter, John Porterfield, Davis Moore, Patrick Wallace, 
James Patton, Charles Schleiper, W. G. Park, A. E. W. Painter, Rev. Dr. Thomas Sproul, Moses 
Peebles, James B. Scott, John Pryor, Sr., Robert Simpson, William Pickersgill, Martin Schaffer, 
William Peters, Alf Slack J. G. Phillips, M. D., O. P. Scaife, John Phillips, William Slack, Jacob 
Reymcr, G. Shiras, Jr., A. Reinenian, J. Scott, C. Raeder, W. Stewart, Joshua Rhodes, Captain 
A. Smith, John Ray. William Reed, Jacob Reel, Captain John L. Reno, William Reel, James 
Ramsev, Andrew Robinson, Dr. D. X. Rankin, James Reed, Stewart Robinson, W. T. Richardson, 
Captain Russell, Charles Rumsey, Abe Rife, David Reynolds, John Rice, P. Rice, Captain D S. 
Sholes, John M. Staub, John S. Slagle, Dr. Swinger, William Stewart, James Sanderson, Judge 
Ed-ward Sto we, Samuel Severance, R. S. Smith, Wils. Smith, William Singer, John Tiernan, J. 
O. Thompson, Robert Till, John Taggart, David Teets, Colonel J. D. Walker, L. Walters, Captain 
Joseph Walton, J. Swoger, Ben Waddington, Harry H. Walker, Robert White, William White, 
Samuel Wertheimer, Joseph Watson, D, M. Watson, John Wills, James G. Welsh, Captain O. 
West, Captain Ed Wright, John Walsh, Alex. Watson, R. D. Wood, Joseph Watson, C Whiston, 
William Trimble, T. D. Casey, P. H. Knox, D. H. Chambers, John Trimble, James Horn, William 
K. Armster, George W. Shepherd, James Hallar, George Keyser, Peter Lippert, Henry Blumhage, 
N. H. Noegtly, Michael Gang, F. Lau^, Christian Breining, William Riemensnyder, John Stotz, 
Gottlieb F.;as, John Froelich,Johu Meyer, Louis Braun, Gottlieb Dahlinger, Jacob Hill, Andrew 
Schlots, J. E. Sonnenberg, A. A. Urben, H. Venning, Robert Rapp, John Wilkson, Addison Lysle, 
W. D. McGill, H. Gray, E. B. Martin, Thomas W. Jones, G. E. Hemphill, Samuel Hastings, M. 
Simon, W. Lang, R. Adair, J. Murphy, M. Callio, Arthur Sholes, Jacob Hasley, John Martin, T. 
C. Jenkins, G. K. McNulty. Henry Mucker, D. W. Miller, John Benbard, W. J. Beckfield, Frank 
K. Brown, J. S. GrafF, J. Fairman. H. D. Renwick, J. Renwick, J. Z. Brown, W. Scandrett, 
Walter Kerr, L. Brown, John Stewart, Nathan Whiston, J. Steele, Charles Sherriff, John Wettich, 
Robert Marshall, George Lozier, James Godfrey, Henry Jones, Louis Stuckrath, William Paul, 
Robert Pitcaim, Thomas Patterson, E. J. Smith, Morrison Foster, — Schreiber, Hon. J. M. 
Kirkpatrick, — Marshall, WiUiam Neeb, A. D. Smith, William France, Captain J. D. McGill, 
Colonel W. D. Moore, Samuel B. Cluley, Fred Beuchler, Thomas Jones, R. H. McCreery, Thomas 
Johnston, James W. Grove, L. D. McCandless, jacob Klee, Martin Gunnon, Julius Adler, Hugh 
Cavatan, John Cochran, J. T. Arnold, Isaac Cline, Captain R. C. Miller, Prof John Davis, Captain 
Rodgers Adam Miller, Thomas Johnston and Alex. Ralston. 
In, ■.accepting the Presidency Mr. Hunter said : 

" Fifty years ago, on the ground now occupied by this beautifial city, the semi-centennial of 
whose birth we are to-day celebrating, was the home of a few thousand people. The spot on 
which we now stand, beautified by the loveliness of vegetation and artistic excellencies, was a 
barren, forbidding common. To-day within our city we have over 100,000 people, rich in 
manufactures, in a common and general prosperity and happiness. We are a contented people, 
appreciating the opportunities that have grown with the rapid development of our citv. In 
commercial prosperity, in our government and its administrators, in the manner of our growth 
and in our city's beauty, we are the equal of any in the country. 

"But great as our progress has been in tlie fifty years of the city's life, still greater things are 
to come. If we to-day congratulate ourselves tliat we have lived in an era of success, those who 
live fifty years hence, when the hundred years of life have been completed, will be amaze<l with 
the progress that was made during the last half of the century." 

115 



Mayor Wyman was then introduced, and delivered a brief address of wel- 
come, in which lie made a hasty review of the city's development to the present. 
He congratulated the people on tiie general prosperity Allegheny had always 
enjoyed, and had no tear tliat a ditFerent course would mar its welfare in the 
time to come. 

Hon. H I. Gourley, Pittsburgh's Mayor, was the next speaker. He said :• 

"The people of this beautiful Allegheny are to be congratulated, and I congratulate vou, 
that within the fifty years since its life began you have worked out a place among the prosperous 
municipalities of the country. There are mighty epochs which control and shape the destinies 
of the human race. There are epochs in the lives of men, there are epochsin the lives of nations, 
there are epochs in the lives of cities, and I take it I hat this day of celebration will be taken as an 
epoch in the life of this magnificent city. What has a citizen of Pittsburgh to rejoice in in the 
prosperity of Allegheny? Your welfare is our welfare. We are as one people. Your interests 
and our interests are identical. We work together, we live together, and we ha\'c grown together. 
If our city has been pushing forward rapidly in its development, so also has yours." 

City Attorney George Elphinstone spoke next, he said : 

"The town of Allegheny was born amid the closing scenes of the Revolution. For the pur- 
pose of paying the depreciated certificates given to the officers and soldiers of the Pennsylvania 
line the General Assembly appropriated a tract of land on the northern shores of the Ohio and 
Allegheny rivers, extending from the western borders of the State to Pine creek, and reserving to 
the use of the State 3,000 acres opposite Fort Pitt, On this land was laid out the town of -Allegheny. 

" It was further provided that enough land should be reser^-ed out of the lots of the town for 
a court house, jail, etc., and in pursuance of these provisions the four central squares on which 
are now erected City Hall, the Carnegie building, the market house and the hay scales were laid 
out. The ground now occupied as a park was formerly 100 acres appropriated for a common 
pasturage. At that time the town was on the frontier of civilization, but westward the star of 
empire was taking its way. The town became a borough in 1828, and in 1840 the city of Al'.eghenv 
was incorporated, under the name and style of "The Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of Allegheny." 
The number of wards in the city is increased from four to thirteen, and the population has 
multiplied to more than 100,000 souls, entitling us to become a city of tlie second cla.ss." 

Mr. Elphinstone then gave a concise resume of the progress of the city, the 
growth of the parks, the part its citizens took in the Civil War, and continued : 

" It is proper that on this occasion we should look ahead. The city has immediate needs 
which must be filled. We need three broad highways, east, north and west. Federal street, as 
laid out 100 years ago, 00 feet wide, extending from the river to the edge of the Reserve tract, 
must be opened. California avenue, when opened to the west, will develop a vast stretch of 
territory. The Butler plank road must be improved so as to afford an outlet to the eastward. 

" We want free bridges and tlie abolition of toll-gates within the city limits. We want the 
present classification of cities abolished, and a system of government provided for all municipali- 
ties, with power committed to the city governments to make local laws and manage their own 
affairs. We want all the diverse and conflicting laws relating to taxation and internal improve- 
ments repealed, and a uniform system provided which shall control every citv in the State. We 
want our territory extended north, east and west. We do not want annexation at present. After 
fifty years of corporate life we have lower taxes, less debt and better credit than Pittsburgh." Why 
should we make a change ? Some years ago Allegheny declined annexation by an overwhelming 
vote. Since the present census has shown us to be entitled to the grade of a second class city, the 
proposition of annexation has been renewed and found many sincere and able advocates. It may 
be that the time will soon come when Pittsburgh ami .fVUeghcny can, with mutual profit, give up 
[heir corporate identity and become one city, but in my judgment that time has not yet arrived. 

" The last great need of our city is an active participation in public affairs by all its citizens. 
One of the greatest dangers to our government is the indifference of the citizen to his public 
duties. The election of the city officers is too often left to the professional politician. Purit}', 
efficiency and economy' in the administration of government can only be had when the nnasses 
of the people are vigilant in the exercise of their rights and duties. Let me, on this semi- 
centennial occasion, urge these thoughts upon you. The future is bright with splendid possibili- 
ties. The day is dawning that shall usher in a new era for our beloved country." 

116 



A. B. Haj, Esq., followed Mr. Elpliinstone in a brief address, iu which he 
rMpidl y sketdied the past of Allegheny, and made a grand propliec-y for its future. 
Ill' spoke of the egotistical pride of man, and said that while it was not tlie most 
amiable characteristic, the people of Allegheny might well be pardoned for 
indulging themselves on an occasion of this kind. Their history is one of which 
they may be proud. It is a history of a sublime and exalted past, marked with 
undaunted courage, undaunted energy, wonderful industry and unheard of pro- 
gress. Mr. Hay closed by exhorting the citizens of Allegheny to be careful and 
prudent in their thoughts of annexation with Pittsburgh. He said annexation to 
Pittsburgh would be but a swallowing up of all tiie good gained in the past 
iifty years. 

Colonel W. I). Moore was greeted with cheers when he stepped on the 
platform. Although a light shower of rain duringhis address scattered the crowd, 
it soon returned. He painted glowing pictures of early days in Allegheny. He 
recalled school day times, and paid a tribute to the residents of earlier days. In 
fact, his speech was one of the kind which cannot be reported because there was 
so much in the manner in which he made his statements. He touched on politics, 
and in speaking of corporations, said the Pennsylvania Railroad had no right to 
select a Governor for the State of Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Thomas M. Marshall came next. He did not believe, he said, the art 
of government was to build up coUosal fortunes for men. He could take the 
people into Wall street and point out to them a man whose tread made all the 
olierators in that street tremble, and yet that same man, with all his vast wealth, 
iiad never yet caused two blades of grass to grow. The office of the government 
is to bring up sturdy men and pure women. The laborer who tills the soil is the 
noblest man in the country. It is not the art of government to bring up men 
who build huge buildings, with their names plastered on them in huge letters. 
[Cheers.] Kor monuments to Generals ; but to honor the men who went out for 
sl3 per month and never expected to see their names on the countr^'^s pension 
roll. Mr. Marshall here pointed to the soldiers' monument in plain sight on the 
hill above him, and said that he made the dedicatory speech when that monument 
was unveiled. The monument was in honor of the men who died that the country 
might live. 

Hon. Morrison Foster was next introduced, and made a short but happy 
speech, congratulating the people of Allegheny on the great advancement made 
during the last fifty years. 

The exercises were closed by a benediction pronounced by Rev. Dr. 
MacMillan. 

During the intermissions between the speeches. President James Hunter 
read letters of regret from a number of invited guests. Among them were the 
following ; 

"KxEctTivE Mansion, 1 

"Washi.noton, D. C, June 28, 1890. J 
"Mr. S. D. Hubley, Chairman, Allegheny, Pa.: 

"Mv Dear Sir. — I am directed by the President to acknowledge the receipt of the invitation 
to attend the semi-centennial of Allegheny City, Pa., and to thank you for the courtesy extended 
and to express his regret at not being al)le to attend on the occasion named. 

"Very respectfully, 

"E. W. Hai.ford, Private Secretary." 

117 



"Rhinecliff, N. Y., 1 
"July 3, 1890. j 

"Dear Sir: — I regret that, owing to previous engagements, I will be unable to avail myself 
of your kind invitation to attend the celebration of the semi-centennial of Allegheny City on the 
17th of this month. With thanks for the invitation and best wishes for the continued prosperity 
of your city, believe me, "Very faithfully yours, 

"Levi P. Morton." 



"Dep.\rtment of State 
'WA.SHINGTON-, July 10, 1890, 



.} 



"De.'^R Sir: — Mr. Blaine regrets that matter of great importance will prevent his attending 
the semi-centennial celebration of Allegheny City, on the 17th instant, to which he was kindly 
invited by your committee. "Very respectfully yours, 

"Louis A. Dert, Private Secretary." 



"Office Po.sTMASTER General, \ 
"Washington, D. C, June 30, 1890. J 
"Dear Sir: — The Postmaster General directs me to say that he is greatly indebted for your 
courteous invitation for the 17th of July, and to add that he regrets very much that the press of 
his official duties will oblige him to forego the pleasure of your hospitality. With great respect 

"Yours most truly, 

"Marshali, Cushinc, Private Secretary." 



At seven o'clock in the evening fifteen thousand people thronged around the 
music pavilion in the Parks to hear the grand concert which was to wind up the 
day's festivities. Precisely at half past seven Director Weis gave the signal to 
begin playing. A programme had been arranged, which included a number of 
popular airs. The first number was a piece entitled, " Semi-(3entennial Festival 
March," composed by Prof. Weis for the occasion. After this came "William 
Tell," which had to be reproduced before tiie people would desist from applaud- 
ing. " Spring Approach," was the next number, which came in for the approval 
of the listeners. 

The singing societies had by this time arrived, and the band suspended long 
enough to permit them to sing two songs. About 500 trained voices of male 
singers, composed of the various German singing societies, comprised the chorus. 
They were under the able leadership of Benjamin Keller, of the Robert Blum 
Maennerchor. The best singers fi'om the Calcellia, Teutonia, Druiden, Troy 
Hill and Schwaebischer Maennerchors and tlie Odd Fellows' Saengerbund and 
Harugari Liedertafel sang "The Soldier's Night Song" and "Howl Loved 
Her." The singing of the chorus was conceded by all to have been excellent. 

After the singing had concluded, the band resumed and played the following 
programme, which was encored heartily : Fantasie, " Hunt for Happiness," 
Brande; selection, "OfFenbachina," Boettger; waltz, "Danube Waves," Ivanoviti; 
medley, new, "A Night in Allegheny,'' C. B. Weiss; selection, "Tannhauser," 
Wagner; Gavotte, "First Heart Throbs," Elinberg; selection, "Trip to Africa," 
Von Luppe; March, Deitz; " Hunting Scene," descriptive^ " A Night in New 
York," descriptive. 

118 



The programme was tlirough'by nine o'clock and the fireworks immediately 
started. The Grand Army Band Jield forth at the old stand, near the Pluniboldt 
monument, and helped to enliven matters. 

One of the UK^st attractive features about the iiii^lit disphiy was the arch of 
the Westingiiouse Electric Light Company in tlie park near Ohio street. It was 
decorated with Hags and bunting, bearing the words "Allegheny 1840-1890," 
the words and figures being formed of incandescent lamps, giving it a brilliant 
ajipearancc. 

P'rom the parks a good view of the fireworks put ofi' from Monument Hill 
could be had, and thousands of people availed themselves of it. 




lilt 




chief-of-staff husfxton. 

One of the best known men in the two cities is Dr. W. S. Huselton, who acted as Chief-of- 
Staff on the occasion of the Senii-Centennial parade. Both as a physician and as a citizen, he 
has made an enviable reputation for himself. The manner in which he discharged his duties as 
Chief-of-Staff at the great and memorable Semi-Centennial parade showed plainly that no better 
selection could have been made. 

Dr. Huselton, who resides and has his offices at No. 17 Stockton avenue, Alleghenv, was 
born in Wilkesbarre, Pa. He was about fourteen years old when his parents removed to the 
vicinity of Butler, Pa., in which town they now reside. His elementary education he received 
at the public schools. Later he attended the Witherspoon Institute at Butler, .\fter teaching 
school for a while he commenced the study of medicine with the late Dr. W. G. Lowman , 
taking his first course of medical lectures at Jeffer.son College, Philadelphia, and graduating 
from the Georgetown University at Washington, D. C. In 186L' he entered the U. S. arniv as an 
assistant surgeon, shortly afterwards passing the United States Examining Board for the position 
of surgeon of volunteers. He held several important positions w-hile in the service, and 
remained therein until the close of the war in 186.5, when he declined a prominent position 
offered him in the medical department in the volunteer army, in order that he might, as was his 
ambition, enter the regular service and make it his profession for life. He was, however, 
persuaded by his parents to abandon this earnest desire of his own and locate in civil practice. 
He settled in the town of Butler toward the end of 18()5. -Although meeting with deserved 
encouragement and marked success from the start, he was not satisfied with the place, or the 
kind of practice, on account of the very large amount of country work it entailed. In .\pril, 
1807, he located at Allegheny City, and has been in continued practice from that time until the 
present, being engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery. He is surgeon to the 
Allegheny General Hospital, medical director to the P. & W. R. R., also President of the 
Allegheny City U. S Examining Board for Pensions, served one term in City Councils, and is a 
director in the National Fire Insurance Company. He occasionally contributes articles to 
medical periodicals and local papers. He is a member of the .American Medical Association, 
the Pennsylvania State Medical .Society and the Allegheny County Medical Society. He was 
a delegate to the International Medical Congress in 1876, also a member of that body which held 
its sessions at \Va.shington. D. C, in 1SH7, and again a delegate to the Ninth International 
Medical Congress, which assembled in Berlin, Germany, in 18!)0. He married Miss Eva Havs 
Davis, and has three children, a son and two daughterSj 



l-'l 




.i.m;rai, smith. 



An admirable Adjutant General for the great Semi-Centennial parade was Mr. Lee S. Smith, 
one of Allegheuv's most prominent citizens. Mr. Smith is the proprietor of the Pittsburgh 
Dental Depot, No. .52 Sixth street, Pittsburgh, was born at Cadiz, O , on April 24, iS44, and 
came to Pittsburgh in 1.S62. He entered the army as a private in the 1st Pennsylvania Artillery, 
and was afterwards Sergeant in the 10 1st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. After the close of 
the war he assisted in the re-organization of the Pennsylvania National Guard as Assistant Adju- 
tant General of the Second Brigade. He was subsequently Major of the 14th Infantry, resigning 
that commission on account of his business engagements. In 1868 he married Miss Agnes S. 
Wolt. He is a prominent member of the various Masonic bodies, and is a Past Grand Com- 
mander of the Grand Commandery of the State. He is also prominent with the G. A. R., 
being a charter member and Past Commander of Post ;t. On his return at the close of the war 
he studied for the dental profession, and afterward purchased the dental supply stock of Dr. 
M. E. Gillespie, which business he is now eng.iged in, and at his depot can be found all the 
latest and most approved appliances and adjuncts needed by the most advanced school of dentists. 
Mr. Smith brought to the business a practical knowledge, being a dentist by profession, and 
also has applied to it an extensive capacity for business and a commendable degree of energy 
and enterprise which has enabled him to secure popularity and gratifying recognition. He car- 
ries a full stock of everything pertaining to his line of business, including all makes of teeth, 
gold foil, amalgam, instruments, dental chairs, dental engines, in fact every requisite for the 
practitioner. Mr. Smith has been a resident of Allegheny since the close of the war. At first 
he located in the Sixth ward, afterwards moving to the First, where he now resides occupying 
the elegant residence No. "21 Marion avenue, which faces the park. 



123 




CHIKK MARSHAL BKII^TKIN. 

Mr. Beilstein jjoesdown to history as the Chief Marshal of the Scnii-Centennial parade. That 
he should have been selected as the commanding general of that imposing pageant was eminently 
fitting. He is one of the oldest and most prominent citizens on the North Side, and he is 
uudoubteilly one of the most popular men in Allegheny. Mr. Beilstein is wealthy, but he 
devotes so little of his wealth to his own use that there is plenty left for those in need ; and he 
gives with a generous hand. He is also a self-made man, owing his wealth entirely to his own 
energy, perseverance, and, above all, to his strictly honest busine.ss methods. He is now the 
leading butcher of the two cities. The meat that comes from his sliops and market stands, both 
in Pittsburg and Allegheny, can be relied on as being clean and healthy. His scrupulosity in 
that respect has made his reputation. 

Mr. Beilstein was born in Germany in 1833. In 1838 his parents came to America and 
settled in .\lleghen}-. He visited the public schools there and then learned the butcher business 
with his father. In 1855 he was married to Mary, daughter of Christian Beilstein. In his 
domestic relation he has been as happy as in his business ventures. He has a gentle, loving 
wife, and his children honor and respect him. Mr. Beilstein served two terms in the Allegheny 
Councils. He retired eight jears ago. There is a curiosity in Mr. Beilstein 's posses.sion which 
ought to be mentioned here. It is a pair of Texas steer horns measuring nearly eight feet from 
tip to tip. They have the hardness and polish of ivory. He was at one time offered a large 
sum of money for them, but he says that no monev can buy them. 



125 



THE OFFICIAL REPORT 



Semi-Centennial Celebration. 



To THE Honorable, The Select and Common Councils : 

Your Committee appointed to make arrangements for the proper observance 
of tiie Semi-Centenuial of the City of Alleglieny, would respectfully report that 
in proceeding to the discharge of the duty assigned to it, your Committee as- 
sociated with it in its work, on motion of Mr. W. W. Speer, the following well 
known citizens, who rendered valuable service, viz : Hon. W. H. Graham, Capt. 
Chas. W. Gerwig, Jos. O. Home, A. M. Byers, C. C. Scaife, W. F. Trimble, 
J. F. Beilstein, H. W. Minnemeyer, T. R. Manis, Amos Belcher, Col. W. A. 
Stone, D. B. Oliver, A. B. Smith, August Sneider, Hon. Henry Gerwig, John 
Uuckenstein, J. D. Mackie, A. A. Anderson, W. P. Bennett, Jos. F. Neely, 
James W. Collins and Thos. G. Sample. 

The Committee was also fortunate early in its work in securing the services 
of Col. J. D. Walker, whose skill as an organizer and executive officer was 
here successfully displayed. 

Your Committee labored under a serious disadvantage in endeavoring to 
• secure a proper observance of the occasion, but by close attention and constant 
effort was enabled to overcome it. 

It was decided, on motion of Mr. Mercer, that the celebration be held on 
Thursdav, the ITth day of July, 1890, and that the method of its observance be 
bv a grand parade in the morning, a mass meeting in the Park in the afternoon 
a!id a pyrotechnic display at night, and this was the programme as finally car- 
ried out. The parade was a monster affair, consisting of three grand divisions, 
officered as follows : — 

general officers. 
Chief Marshal. J. F. Beilstein, 
Chief of Staff, W. S. Huselton, M. D., 
Adjutant General, Lee S. Smith. 

FIRST DIVISION. 

Marchal, H. K. Beatty, M. D., 
Chief of Staff, Alfred S. Smith, 
Assistant Adjutant General, Frank J. Fleck. 

127 



SECOND DIVISION. 

Marshal, David Hunter, Jr., 

Chief of Staff, John G. Hastings, 

Assistant Adjutant General, Capt. John Glenn. 

THIRD DIVISION. 

Marshal Major Geo. N. Lacock, 

Chiei of Staff, Alex. S. Cameron, 

Assistant Adjutant General, W. T. Bradberry. 

The first division was composed of Military organizations, Grand Army, 
Veteran Legion, Sons of Veterans, United Americans, Select Knights, American 
Mechanics, Turners, Singing Societies, etc. The second division consisted of 
the Police Department, Mail Carriers, Invited Guests, Orators, ex-Mayors, 
Councils, Heads of Departments, City OtHcials, Seuii-Centennial Committee, 
Water Department, Street Department, Old Volunteer Firemen and Fire Depart- 
ment. The third division consisted of an industrial display, and was a leading 
feature of the parade. 

The route of the procession was as follows : 

Federal street and Montgomery avenue to Church avenue, to Cedar avenue, 
to Washington street, to Madison avenue, to Liberty street, to Chestnut street, 
to Ohio street, to James street, to North avenue, to Allegheny avenue, to Locust 
street, to Chartier street, to Ridge avenue, to Marion avenue, to Ohio street, to 
Federal street, and there dismissed. 

The public buildings of the city, including the School houses, Engine houses 
Police stations. Market house. City Hall, Carnegie Library building, a number 
of the electric light towers, and a large number of business and dwelling houses 
were profusely and beautifully decorated. 

The mass meeting was presided over by James Hunter, Esq. 

The orators were : Hon. James G. Wyman, Mayor; James Hunter, Hon. 
Thos. M. Marshall, W. D. Moore, A. B. Hay, George Elphinstone, Hon. H. I. 
Gourlev, Mayor of Pittsburgh, and Hon. Morrison Foster, who spoke eloquently 
and appropriately to a large concourse of appreciative hearers. The meeting, 
was opened with prayer by Rev. T. J. Leak, D. D., of the North avenue M. E. 
Church, and was concluded with the benediction pronounced by Rev. W. H. 
McMillan, D. D. The intense heat of the day and a light rain which fell in the 
afternoon interfered to a sliglit extent with this feature of the day's proceedings, 
but not to such a degree as to prevent the carrying out of the programme. 

The evening display consisted of music at the grand stand in the Park, which 
was beautifully decorated and blazing with electric lights, an exhibition of pyro- 
technics from Monument Hill, red tire burnt from the tops of the electric light 
towers, 150 feet from the ground, and turning on for the first time of the city's new 
electric light system, the lights of which were encased in red, white and blue glass 
globes, which produced a pretty effect. 

A very marked and beautiful display was made by the Westinghouse 
Electric Company, near the corner of Sherman avenue and Ohio street. An 
immense conflagration, which lighted up the sky brilliantly, and b}' which a large 
planing mill in the First ward was almost wholly destroyed, occurred when the 

128 



pyroteclinic- display was about concluded, and constituted an ai)j)ro|)riato tiiough 
unfortunate ending of the da^^'s proceedings. 

There was an immense outpouring of the people in the evening in the Parks. 
It is impossible to estimate their number, tliougli it reached many thousands. 

The celebration formed a link between the present and the past. It was 
especially interesting to the older residents of the city, and manj' an incident of 
the ))ast of more than ordinary moment, and of more than j)assing interest was 
brought up again to engage the attention of the people who once had been actors 
therein or cognizant thereof. 

The past history of the city is replete with such incidents and yet more 
important matters, deserving of being perpetuated. 

Your Committee thought the occasion a proper one on which to prepare a 
history of our city, and accordingly authorized ilr. Carl Wilhelm to y)repare such 
a history, by this means seeking fo rescue from oblivion much that pertains to the 
growth and prosperity of our city up to the present time. Owing to the illness of 
the author and to other causes, the work rs not yet issued, but will probably not 
be much longer delayed, and when it does appear will no doubt be highly appre- 
ciated by our citizens and others. 

Your Committee is gratified to state that the celebration was in every sense 
a success and was accomplished not only without exceeding the appropriation of 
:?5,000, allowed for it, but with a balance to the credit of the Committee of 
$377.30. Respectfully submitted, 

C. W. Neeb, Chairman. 



Sam. D. Hubley, 
J. W. Lahugh, 
Jas. H. Lindsay, 
A. H. Meroee, 
Jos. Kaiser, 
M. Hannon, 
W. W. Speke, 
Geo. J. Lappb, 



C. C. Hay, 
Arthde Hunter, 
Henry Stockmann, 
James Hunter, 
Richard Millard, 
W. C. Langhorst, 
W. A. Cruickshank, 

A. ROKTHLEIN. 



-gs)^ 



I2y 



^> a?- ^ 



PORTRAITS 



AND 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKKTCHES 



OK 



OFFICIALS 



.<» 



COIJNCILMKN 



OK 



ALLBGHENY CITY, 



PENN A. 



\* 



I ^ 




\ 






> 



CITY OFFICIALS. 

Henry Huiineshageii, Mayor's Clerk. Jolui R Muri)liy, Chief of Police. 

James G. Wviiiaii, Mayor. 
James Brown. City Controller. Charles Hhlers, City Engineer. 



Biographical Skbtches. 



*Ammon, Adam. — Mr. Amnion, who for Ihe Uisl ten years has been a prominent figure in 
the municipal afTairs of .Allegheny City, was born in Washington county, June 17th, 1827. At 
the age of lH, after having attended the subscription school for three years, he was apprenticed 
to the coopering business, which he followed until 1H44 In that year Mr. Amnion removed to 
.\llegheny county and decided to learn the nursery business. He was apprenticed to J. S. 
Schneider, who had a large nursery near Pittsburgh. Ten years later Mr. Amnion, in partner- 
ship with a friend, bought out Mr. Schneider, and carried on the business successful!}' until 
1804, when he sold out and became a comniis.siou nierclunit in Pittsburgh. In 18ti8 he entered 
the firm of Hamilton, Lemon & Co., coffin manufacturers, of which he is a member to-day. 
He then made his home in Allegheny, -A-hcre the works of that well known concern are located. 
Mr. Ammon was elected to Common Council from the Fifth ward in 188], ami has served 
continually since. He has been Chairman of the City Property Committee for several years, is 
a member of the Carnegie Library Commission and a number of other important committees. 

Brown, J.\mes. — Mr. Brown, City Controller, is one of the most popular officials in 
.■Vlleghenv. His pleasing and courteous manner to everybody with whom he conies in contact 
has made him hosts of friends. He was born in 1834, in Alleghcnj', and has resided there all 
his life. He is now serving in the nineteenth year of his service as Controller. Mr. Brown 
started in life as a carpenter when he was still a young man, and soon established an excellent 
reputation as a skilled workman. Some years later he became manager of a coal and coke 
business, and afterward entered the office of the City Engineer. On August 1st, 1872, he was 
elected City Controller, which office he has held ever since. He has all the degrees possible 
conferred upon him in Masonry, and is a prominent and active member of that organization. 

Brown, Thom.^S. — Mr. Brown was born in Allegheny in 18.j2, and educated in the public 
schools of his native city. He is the head of the plumbing and gas fitting house which bears 
his name. This house was founded in 18.52, and the following have been the changes in the 
style and title of the firm since that date, viz.: 1852, Maffett Old & Bailiff; 18()0, Bailiff i& 
Brown ; 186.5, Bailiff, Brown & Co. ; I8U7, Bailiff, Brown & Carson ; 18 9, Bailiff & Brown ; 
1871, Thomas Brown. Mr. Brown has had great experience, and possesses an intimate knowl- 
edge of everv detail of the business. He has always made it a rule to do nothing but first-class 
work, for the acconiplishment of which the most skilled workmen are employed, and the best 
procurable materials used. Everything in the way of plumbing, ventilating, steam and gas 
fitting is done ; contracts are entered into, and the complete fitting up of buildings is satisfac- 
lorilv executed. In sanitary plumbing, the .specialty of this house (on the perfect performance 
of which so nuicli of the health and comfort of the community depends), a leading specialtv is 
made of fitting, etc., of the most approved character for natural gas, and every <levice calculated 
to ensure safetv and economy in the use and regulation of this fuel is supplied by this concern. 
.\n active experience of thirty years is certainly an element to secure confidence. A large stock 
of plumbers' materials, gas and steam fittings of the most improved description, lamps chande- 
liers, etc., is constantly kept on hand, and it is the earnest desire of the proprietor to merit, by 
the strict principle of just dealing, a continuance of the liberal support already accorded. Mr. 
Brown is ably assisted in tliemanagement of his business by Mr. John R. Watson, his bookkeeper. 

Bdente, H. H. — Mr. Buente is a well known ni;;n in A'egheny City. At first a tobacconist, 
and then in tlie grocery business, he has made a licst of Irieut.s, and kept tliem. He has in 
consequence, been a very successful business man, and one so prudent that at the age of forty 
he was enabled to retire from the onerous duties of an active business life and devote his time 
entirely to his real estate interests. Mr. Buente was born in March. 1848, ii; ilie Fourth ward, 
.Allegheny, where he also attended the public school. He now represents the Second ward in Com- 

*Mr. Adam Ammon breathed his last on the moniiiiK of December h] 1X!K), after the foregoint; had been put In 
type. The manner and suddenness ol his death was a great shock to all who knew him. He died on a I'ullman 
sleeping car on the 1* & 1.. H. railroad while c/i n^ufr home from a business trip to the East. 

133 



nion Council, liaving been elected to that body in April, 1889. His strong sense and ability have 
already gained him considerable influence in the deliberations of the municipal legislature, and 
he has been appointed to serve on four of the most important committees, viz.: Water, City 
Property, Markets and Legislative. 

Cochrane, Geo. A. — Mr. Cochrane was born in Franklin Tovpnship, Allegheny County, 
Pa., October 10th, 1837. He comes of Scotch-Irish parents, who came to this country in 1820, 
his father, John Cochrane, from County Armagh, Ireland ; and his mother. Miss Mary Alexan- 
der, from County Antrim, Ireland. They both settled near East Liberty, Allegheny County, Pa.; 
they were married September, 1825. They continued to live there and in the suburbs of 
Pittsburgh until the spring of 1833, when they moved to Franklin Township. In April, 1848, 
they moved to Allegheny City and took up tlieir residence in the Second Ward. After two 
years they moved back to Frankstown Township. Mr. Cochrane learned the trade of carpenter. 
In 1803 he came to Allegheny City, where he worked as a journeyman at his trade. In the 
same year he was enrolled in the United States service, and assigned to the 61st Regiment 
Pennsylvania Volunteers; was honorably discharged June 28th, 1865. He returned to Allegheny 
and in 1872 was elected to Common Council from the Sixth Ward, of which he has been a 
resident ever since. He served until 1877, when he was elected to Select Council, of which he 
is now a member. He has been a persistent advocate of a purer supply of water. He was also, 
it will be remembered, the most energetic supporter of the scheme to extend Federal street. 

Curry, Frank. — Mr. Curry was born in 1852, in the Third ward, Allegheny. His parents 
afierward removed to the Second ward, where he has lived ever since, and which he now 
represents in the Common branch of Councils. In 1873 Mr. Curry entered the tobacco business 
on Ohio street, and has continued there in the same line ever since. He is an active politician 
and has been a delegate to a number of conventions. He was elected to Common Council in 
February, 1889. Mr. Curry is a member of the Conmiittees on Fire Department, Police, Public 
Parks and Health. 

Einstein, Morris. — One of the most promising young men in Allegheny politics is Mr. 
Morris Einstein, the member of Select Council from the Twelfth ward, Allegheny. He is 
young, bright and active, and has made an early start. He is but twenty-six years old and is 
already serving his third year in Council, and was the youngest man ever elected to Select 
Council. His success in business as well as in politics he owes not to circumstances, but to 
himself. Intelligence, honest busiiiess methods, and a facultj' for making friends and keeping 
them, are the foundations on which he is building up his future. He conducts a drug store at 
164 East street, Allegheny-, and it is safe to say that there is not a more thri\-ing establishment 
of the kind in the city. Mr. Einstein was born in 1865, in the Fourth ward, Allegheny. There 
he also attended the public school. At the age of fifteen he was given a position in the drug 
store of Peter Walter, Jr. That he made good use of his time is shown by the fact that five years 
later he was ready to go into businc^ on his own account. He associated himself with T. W. D. 
Hiver, now a druggist on Penn avenue, Pittsburg, and went into the drug business at the same 
place where his establishment is now located. At the end of one year he bought out his partner 
and became sole owner of the business, which he has been conducting ever since with well 
merited success. Last year Mr. Einstein was on the Library, Survey, Health and City Property 
Committees. Now he is Chairman of the Water Committee, and a member of the Committees 
on Library and Public Works. He is also a Trustee of the Pittsburg College of Pharmacy. 

Ebbert, J. G. — Mr. Ebbert was born in Belle Vernon in 1852. He attended the public 
school at Brownsville. In 1868 he took up his residence in Allegheny, while going into the 
printing business in Pittsburgh. He followed the trade of printer for over 10 years. In 1880 
he went into the undertaking business in Allegheny, which he has adhered to ever since. Mr. 
Ebbert takes an active part in politics. He is a resident of the Third ward, which he has 
represented in Common Council since 1887. He was elected for a second term in 1889. Mr. 
Ebbert is a member of the Committees on Fire Department, Police, Surveys and Health. 

Graham, D. F. — Mr. Graham, member of Conmion Council from the Ninth ward, was 
born in Pittsburgh in 1844. He has been an iron worker ever since he was able to do a day's 
work. His parents moved to Allegheny in 1854. For twentv-four years Mr. Graham has been 
an employe of the Pittsburgh Forge and Iron Company, and for the past ten years has occupied 
a position of trust with that concern. He is serving his first term in Council. 

lU 




PRESIDENT OF SELECT COUNCIL AND HEADS OF COMMITTEES. 



\V W. Spcei. 
Thos. Brown. 



(»eo. \\". Siiaiiiaii 
Jas. H. Liiulsay- 
Emanuel Wertheiuier. 



J..I111 1'. Ober. 
Geo. A. Cochrauc. 



Gregg, Jas. P., Jr. -Mr. Gregg was born in Birmingham, now Pittsburgh, S S., in 1843. 
His parents moved to Allegheny when he was still a child, and livc<I in the First ward of that 
city until 186G, when they took up their residence in the Second ward, where Mr. Gregg has 
lived ever since. He has been prominently identified with the growth and prosperity of the 
city for the last 80 years. He was elected to Common Council from the Second ward in 1877, 
and has held that position ever siuce without intennission. Mr. Gregg is a inemlxjr of the 
Cotnmittees on Public Parks, Pire Department, Police Department and Roads. Since 1860 he 
has been in the gents' hat business, enjoying a prosperous trade by reason of his sound business 
metliods, as well as on account of his personal popularity. 

Groetzinger, a. C— Mr. Groetzinger is one of Allegheny's rising young men. Although 
only 30 j-ears old, he already manages his fatlier's large tannery and conducts the work of about 
liiO men, a position of grave responsibility in such a business, as every one knows who is 
acquainted with it. He was born in 18(i0 in Ducjuesne Horough, now the Eighth ward, 
.\llegheny, which he represents in Common Council. He attended the Troy Hill school, and 
afterward visited a private institution of learning. He then entered his father's counting room, 
and in a short time was taken into partnership. He was elected a Councilman in F'ebruary, 
1889. Mr. Groetzinger is a member of the Water, Wharves and Landings. Health, Appeals and 
Library Committees. 

H.\RBisoN, T. C. — Mr. Harbison was born in the Third ward, Allegheny, in 1840. He 
attended the public school there, and after receiving a good education in all the common 
branches of learning, went into the tobacco business, in which he is still engaged, with the only 
difference that from a very small beginning he has built up a trade in his business which covers 
not onlj- Allegheny and Pittsburgh, but also most of the smaller towns within a radius of 50 
miles. Mr. Harbison was elected to Common Council from the Third ward in April, 188.5, and 
has served the city in that capacity ever since. Mr. Harbison is a verj' popular man, who has 
the faculty of making friends and keeping them. He is Chairman of the Legislative Committee 
and a member of the Committees on Natural Gas, Poor Farm, Auditing and Appeals 

Henricks, J. R. — Mr. Henricks was born on November 13th, 18.53, in the Sixtli ward, 
Allegheny. He visited the First ward public school, and afterwards attended a private institution 
of learning. After he had acquired the necessary preparation he entered the office of John W . 
Kirker, Esq., in Pittsburgh, for the study of law. However, he did not find that profession 
much to his taste, and after two years of Blackstone left it for another field. He accepted a 
position with Mellor & Hoene, dealers in musical instruments, and after two years of apprentice- 
ship was thoroughly acquainted with the business and had made many friends by his genial 
manner and pleasant address. He then established himself on Wood street in the .same line ot 
business, where he soon made a name for himself for square dealing and always giving his 
customers tlie worth of their money. ReceutU- Mr. Henricks has removed to Fifth avenue, 
where his establishment occupies the whole of the first floor of the new Press building. In 
188.5 Mr. Henricks was elected to Select Council to represent the Eleventh ward, and has served 
ever since. He is one of the most active and efficient members of Council, and takes great 
interest in improving and beautifying the city of Allegheny. Mr. Henricks is Chairman of the 
Surveys Committee and a member of a number of other important committees. 

HUBLEY, Samuel D. — Capt. Hubley was born in Allegheny City, of which he has been a 
resident ever since. He attended the Fourth ward public school, and finished his education at 
the Western University. On leaving that institution he entered the office of his lather as a 
partner and continued in business with him until 1S79, since which time he has been connected 
with Bradstreets Mercantile Agency in Pittsburgh. He is a jjrominent member of a number of 
secret societies, and has the honor to be one of the ftmnders oi the Americus Republican Club, 
which he has been largely instrumental in building up to its present greatness and influence. 
Three consecutive times he was elected Captain of the Americus Club, and was its commander 
at the great business men's parade in New York in 1887, and also at the inauguration of President 
Harrison. In .\pril, 1881, he was elected to Common Council from the First ward and served 
one term. He was again elected in April, 1890, from the same ward, but this time to the Select 
branch. Mr. Hubley is a member of the Gas, Legislative, Markets, Natural Gas, Printing, 
Railroads and Wharves and Landings Committees. 

135 



IIuNXESHAGEN, HenRV. — Mr. Hunneshageii, the Major's Clerk, is one of the best known 
and most popular men in Allegheny. To come in contact with him is to like him. He has 
served as clerk under Mayor Wyman for two administrations, and officiated in the same 
capacity under Mayor Pearson. At the age of 12 he began life as a clerk in an East Liberty 
grocery store, and later pursued the same vocation in Allegheny. His business training educated 
him to an excellent understanding of public affairs. He is a Pittsburghcr bv birth but as early 
as 1849, two years after he was born, he removed to Allegheny, where he has lived ever since. 
In all his public duties he has shown more than ordinary ability and a peculiar fitness which 
stamp him as a man capable of creditably filling any office to which he inav lie called. 

Hunter, James. — Mr. Hunter, for almost fourteen years President of .\llegheny Common 
Council, was born in 1844, on Robinson street. First ward, AUeghenv, within a stone's throw 
from the site of his present office on River avenue. He is undoubtedly a man of great will 
power, energy and intelligence, else he wovild not have held his present position, one that begets, 
naturally, many enemies, for so long a period. Mr. Hunter was educated at the public schools 
of his native city, and the Iron City Business College in. Pittsburgh. After graduating from that 
institution he entered the cattle business and at the same time became cattle market reporter for 
the old Pittsburgh Commcicial. By close attention to business he had already accumulated a 
fortune when the panic of 1870 swept over the land, and he was stricken down with numberless 
other business men. In 1881, when he had entirely recovered from that blow, he left the cattle 
Ijusiness and went into the lime business. He is the first man that ever put ground lime upon 
the market. His works are situated on the Ft. W. R. R., about fifty miles from the city, and 
have a daily capacity of 1,500 bushels. Mr. Hunter was married to Miss Mary Freeland, of AUe- 
i;heny, in 1871. One of their sons, although only fifteen years of age, is already well known to 
the public as Jim Hunter, Jr., page of Common Council. Mr. Hunter's first public office was 
that of Wharfmaster. Afterwards he was appointed Captain of the night watch and in 1875 en- 
tered Common Council, representing the Second ward. He served in the army as Lieutenant of 
Company I, 155th Pa. Volunteers, and as Sergeant in Company G, 19.Sd Pa. Volunteers. Mr. 
Hunter is now building himself a residence on Perrysville avenue that will cost him something 
like .$25,000. 

Kaiser, Joseph. — Mr. Kaiser, who represents the Twelfth ward in Common Council, was 
born in Germany in 1850. He came to the United States in 1870 and went direct to Pittsburgh. 
Bv trade a stone cutter, he found plenty of work at good pay, and being of an economical 
disposition soon amassed money enough to go into business on his own account. In 1881 he 
became a nieiuber of the firm of Buente, Kaiser & Co., contractors. After Mr. Buente's death, a 
few years ago, Mr. Kaiser became the head of the firm now so well known under the name of 
Kaiser & Stebbe. Although most of his work has been done in Pittsburgh, Mr. Kaiser has 
always been a resident of Allegheny. Mr. Kaiser is now serving his first term in Councils. He 
is Chairman of the Committee on Roads, and a member of tlie Sur\'e}'s, Railroads and Ordi- 
nances Committees. 

Knox, E. A. — To give a short biographical sketch of Mr. Knox, who so ably represents the 
Sixth Ward in Common Council, we could not do better than to reproduce what was said of him 
in aj-ecent issue of the Royal Arcanum Guide and Candidate, the official and widely-read organ 
of that order : " Bro. E. A. Knox was born in Thompsontown, Juniatta Co., Pa., about 41 
years ago. When about seven years of age his parents took Horace Greeley's advice and went 
West to Tiskilowa, 111., where Bro. Knox lived a farmer-boy until he was 19, when he reversed 
the order of going West, and came East to Allegheny, where he learned the trade of stonemason. 
He is now one of the successful contractors of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, is Secretary of the 
Builders' Exchange, and a member of Allegheny City Council. He joined Federal Council, No. 
100, in 1878, but in 1879 he left Federal and organized Allegheny, No. 445, near his residence, 
where he has since remained an energetic worker, never missing a meeting, and his advice is 
always taken , and never fails to reach the point. He looks with pride on No. 445, with her 
present membership of 165, about 75 of whom he recommended. He has represented his 
Council in the Grand Council for four years, and at their last session was elected Grand Orator. 
The members of 445 can truthfully say, that if the Grand Council of Pennsylvania wants good 
earnest workers to fill their offices, they have one in the Orator's chair, and if it were po.ssible 

136 




PRESIDENT OF COMIVION COUNCIL AND HEADS OF COMMITTEES. 

T. C. Harbison Wni. SwiiKlell. Robert Dihvorth. 

Joseph Kaiser. Jauies Hunter. Harry C. Robinson. 

James Hunter, Jr. 



to change the name of 445 to Knox Council, in Jionor of Hro. Knox, it would certainly receive 
the unanimous vote of Allcfjlieny members. Bro. Knox, unlike many others, lays no claim to 
college, other than the prairie public school e<lucation ; his success in life is all in possessing a 
strong will-power, pluck and energy that places our self-niailc men often as leaders and rulers 
of this great country." 

KoEHi.KR, Ct. A.— Mr. Kochler was born in 1852, in the Fourth ward, Allegheny, where he 
also attended the public school. He is a self-made man in the truest sense of the word. In 
1873 he started in the scrap iron business in a very small way. He acknowledges that the 
capital invested <lid not amount to a single dollar. To-day Mr. Koehler is in the Siinie business, 
with the onlv difference that the capital involveil is something like a quarter of a million dollars. 
He was clectetl to Common Council by the citizens of the Fourth ward in February, 1889, and is 
now a member of the Committees on Natural Gas, Railroads, Wooden Buildings and Auditing. 

L,.\PPE, George F. — Mr. Lappe, who represents the Thirteenth ward in Common Council, 
was bom in ISfiO, in the Seventh ward, .\llegheny. He is a member of the firm of Martin 
Lappe & Sons, the well known tanners. He is now serving his first term, having been electe<l 
to Councils in February, 1889. Although Mr. Lappe is a very young man yet, he has already 
made a name for himself in business, and his future is bright and promising. His efficiency in 
Councils is shown by the fact that he is a member of the Streets and Sewers, Fire Department, 
Street Railroads and Library Committees. 

Lowe, Henry C. — Mr. Lowe was born in Camden, New Jersey, •i2 years ago. He was only 
one year ol<l when his parents moved to Allegheny and settled down in the Second ward. Since 
1H77 Mr. Lowe has been in the wholesale notion business. He is about as well posted on 
.\lleghen\' politics as any man in that city, and takes an active part in each campaign, municipal 
or othervdse. He is serving his first term in Councils, where he represents the Second ward in 
the Select branch. Mr. Lowe is a member of the Committees on Streets and Sewers, Water, 
I'ublic Parks, Street Railroads, Ordinances and the Poor Farm Board. 

McGeary, Jesse M. — Mr. McGeary was born in Clinton township, Butler county, Pa., 
November 16th, 18.57. In 1872 he removed to Allegheny, and took up his residence in the Sixth 
ward, where he has lived ever since. In 1880 Mr. McGeary graduated in the Iron City College, 
Pittsburgh, and a short time afterwards was given a position in the Prothonotary's office under 
J. O. Brown. He has always been a very popular man in his ward, and in 1887 his friends 
prevailed upon him to be a candidate for Council. He was elected without trouble. That Mr. 
McGeary has been a valuable man in Councils for his constituency is shown b\' the fact of his 
re-election in February, 1889. He is a member of the Finance, Water, Fire Department, Police 
and Legislative Committees. 

Mercer, A. H. — Andrew Herron Mercer, Esq., is now serving his second term in Councils 
from the Sixth ward. He is a native of Mercer county, Pa., where he was reared on a farm. 
His father, William Mercer, and mother, Sarah A. Moore, were descendants of early Scotch-Irish 
settlers in Mercer and Washington counties, this State. He says, owing to the fact that he had 
big brothers, he was not subjected to as much work on the farm as he now wishes he had been. 
He appreciates the good in farm life for laying the foundations of a sound constitution to 
withstand the too highly civilized life of the city. The common schools were finished bv Mr. 
Mercer at an early age, and then Westminster College, at New Wilmington, Lawrence countv, 
was entere<l. He graduated from this institution after taking a full classical course and sharing 
the first honor of his class, in 1876. The following spring he thought of taking Horace 
Greeley's advice to young men, and started ; but never got further than Alleghenv. The most 
of this summer was spent in the well known store of the late George -McFerron. I-'or mercantile 
pursuits the subject of this sketch did not seem to have, as clergy say, an " effectual call," and 
changed to engage in teaching and pursuing his law studies. He spent more than three years 
teaching, and among other positions he held were those in the McKeesport High School and 
Oakdale .\cademy. When he retired from this profession he had earned the reputation of a 
successful teacher. Having finished his law studies under J. D. Shafer, F>q., he hung out his 
shingle in our sister city, Pittsburgh. By strict attention to business and his office, he has now 
an extensive practice that is yearly increasing. He was ambitious to gain a scat in the City 

137 



Legislature, because he thinks law-making should form a part of a lawyer's education, and 
thereby could serve his constituents and clients better. Mr. Mercer is a member of Library, 
Finance and Park Committees, three of tlie most important committees in the gift of Chairman 
Hunter. He was also a member of the Semi-Centennial Commission, and did much towards 
making the celebration of Allegheny's fiftieth birthday the success it proved to be. 

MUEHl,BRONNER, G. A. — Mr. Muehlbronner is a rising young man, and to all appearances 
destined to make his mark in the political world. He has recently been elected to the State 
Legislature from the First District by a handsome majority. He was born in Philadelphia in 
1857, and when he was about ten years old his parents removed to .'Vllegheny. For a number of 
years Mr. Muehlbronner has been in the grocer/ business, at first retail but now wholesale, his 
spacious storerooms being located on Liberty street, Pittsburgh. In 1883 he was elected to Com- 
mon Council from the Seventh ward. He served two terms in that branch, and in 1887 was 
elected to the Select Council. Mr. Muehlbronner was returned to Select Council for another 
term, from which he now resigns to enter the State's Legislature. Mr. Muehlbronner is very 
popular among his constituents, especially with the German element, whereof his district is 
largely composed. 

Murphy, John R. — Mr. Murphy, Chief of Police of Allegheny, was born in Allegheny in 
1853, and has resided there ever since. His efficient service is so well known that it hardly 
requires mention here. He has been 15 years in the police service, and during that time many 
an evil-doer probably wished that John R. Murphy had never been born. Naturally bright and 
quick of understanding, his detective qualities have developed in the course of his long service, 
until now he can take hold of the most intricate case and unravel it if any man can. For nine 
years he held the position of Market Constable of Allegheny. On account of his vigilance and 
fitness he was appointed by Mayor Wy man Chief of Police. With sound judgment, courteous 
bearing and great personal courage, Chief Murphy has deservedly attained a wide popularity. 

Ober, J P. — Mr. Ober is one of Allegheny's most substantial and influential business 
men. The Eberhardt & Ober Brewing Co., of which he is the treasurer, is one of the largest 
concerns of the kind in this part of the country. Besides this, Mr. Ober is largely interested in 
other business enterprises of great magnitude. He also is the projector of the Troy Hill 
electric street railway, and the organizer of the company which is to build it. While Mr. Ober 
is one of the shrewdest of business men, he is also a most genial companion and very popular 
with every one he comes in contact with, whether in his business relations or socially. But the 
main and most admirable trait of his character is his kind-heartedness, which he has proven on 
many occasions to those in need. Mr. Ober was elected to Select Council in February, 1889, 
where he represents the Thirteenth ward. He is a member of the Conmiittees on Streets and 
Sewers, Fire Department, Street Railroads Printing, Ordinances, Poor Farm and Auditing. 

Ober, F. L. — Mr. Ober, member of Common Council from the Seventh ward, was born in 
1851, in the Fourth ward, Allegheny. He received his education at the public school there. 
When still very young he went into the office of his father, who was then in the brewing 
business. In 1875 Mr. Ober went into business on his own account the name of the firm being 
F. L. Ober & Bro., Brewers. From 1878 to 1881 he represented the Thirteenth ward in Common 
Council. He was re-elected in April, 1882, serving until 1884. He was elected for the third 
time in 1889. Mr. Ober is a prosperous and popular business man, and one that is well fitted 
for the public place he holds. He is a member of the Water, Police, Wharves and Landings 
and Ordinance Committees. 

PaTTON, Wm. F. — Mr. Patton was born in 1860, in the Second ward, Allegheny. He 
received a thorough education at private schools, finishing up at the now defunct New Institute 
in Pittsburgh, from which he graduated at the age of twenty-one. He then went into the brush 
business, being a member of the firm of Wolfe, Patton & Co. The sales-rooms on Wood street, 
Pittsburgh. After a few years Mr. Patton sold his interest in the business and became a stock 
broker. He has continued in the brokerage business ever since. In February, 1889, he was 
elected to Common Council from the First ward. Mr. Patton is a member of the Streets and 
Sewers, Water, Public Parks, and Whar\es and Landings Coniniiltees. He takes an active part 
in the deliberations of Common Council, and is highly respected as well as popular among his 
constituents, and in fact by everybody that knows him. 

138 




B. F. Rynd, C. C, 
Morris Einstein, -S'. C, 
Atiam Amnion, C. C, 

C. A. Muehlbronner, S. C, 
Arthur Kennedv. S. C, 



LIBRARY COMMITTEE 

c. w 

Geo 



. Dahiinjjer. C. C, 

ChaiiDian. 
\V. Snainan. .*>■. C"., 



W'ni M. Stevenson, Librarian. 
J no R. Ilenricks, 6". C, 
A. H Mercer, C. C, 
Geo J Lapi)e, C. C. 
A. C Groetzinger, C. C. 



KoniNSON, Harry C. — Mr. Robinsou is the youngest man in Council, having been bom iu 
l.i<>4, and is certainly one of the most promising young men in both cities. Straight, honest, 
of pleasing a(i(lress, taking appearance and with a good education, his future looks bright indeed. 
He was born in the Fou:th ward, Allegheny. He attended the jjuIjUc sc1:o<i1 there luitil the age 
of ten, after which he v,as sent to a private school, finishing up at the Campbell University. At 
the age of seventeen he cr.tercd the employ of the Baltinuire & Ohio Railrtsad, where, by his 
close attention to business, he was soon promoted to a position of trust. Subsc<jucntly he was 
offered a responsible position with the Schoonmaker Coke Co , which he accepted. He has 
now chart;e of the :2,.'iOO cars which that company uses on the different railroads. Mr. Robinson 
represents the Fourth ward in Common Council, and is now serving his first term. He is 
Chairman of the Health Committee, and a memlier of the Finance, City Property and 
Ordinance Committees. 

Rynd, B. F. — Mr. Rynd was born in Pittsburgh in 1838. Two years later his parents 
moved to Alleghenv. He attendetl the public schools of that city, and afterwards entered the 
.\llegheny College at Meadville He was one of the pioneers iu the development of the Oil 
countrv. He drilled the fifth well, and brought the third steam engine to the Oil country. In 
the sixties Mr. Rynd moved to Westfield, New York, where, in 1870, he was elected to Councils, 
ser\-ing one term. He was elected Mayor of the same town in 1873. By reason of his able 
administration he was re-elected in 187.5, but pressing business affairs forced him to resign before 
tlie expiration of his second term, and to return to Pennsylvania, where he had large lumber 
interests to look afler. He took up his residence in Alleghenj- City again, and in the spring of 
1881 was elected to Common Council from tlie Third ward. He was a delegate to the State 
Convention in 1884, and in the fall of the same year was elected to a seat in the State Legislature, 
which he held for one term. In 1889 he was again elected to Councils. In 1891-92 he will 
again represent his district in the Legislature. Mr. Rynd is a member of the Comttiittees on 
Railroads, Printing, Auditing, Library. 

SCHONDELMYER, G. J. — Mr. Schondelmyer was born in Pittsburgh in 18()1. His parents 
moved to .-Mlegheny in 1863, taking up their residence in the Seventh ward. He attended tlie 
public school there, and on leaving it became an errand boy iu the store of James Collwell. 
From this small beginning lie worked Iiis way up until now he is a member of a firm which 
enjoys one of the most prosperous trades in carpets, dr\' goods and wall paper in Allegheny. 
The house of Arthur, Schondelmyer & Co., on Ohio street, is so well known in both cities that 
it needs no further reference. In February, 1889, Mr. Schondelmyer was elected to Common 
Council from the Seventh ward, of which he has been a resident for many years. He is a 
member of the Committees on Finance, Public Parks, Markets and .\ppeals. 

Snaman, George W. — Although Mr. Snaman was not born in -Allegheny, he came very 
near it, that is, he was only a few months old when his parents removed there from Baltimore, 
Md. That was in 1840, George having come into this world on Octolier I2th, 1839. He received 
his education in the .\lleglieny Public Schools. At the age of fourteen he entered the notion 
store of H.Vanhom, where he remained nine years and thoroughly learned the business. In 
I Slil he accepted a responsible position with Dunlap, Luker & Co., notions and furnishings. 
But he did not hold out long, although he filled his place to the greatest possible satisfaction of 
his employers. The civil war was raging, and in the young man's veins flowed the loyal bloo<l 
of the North. Notwithstanding the protestations of his friends and the tears of his mother, he, 
barely twenty years old, enlisted in the 1 23d Regiment and went to the front. On his return 
from the war he again entered the employ of Dunlap, Luker & Co. In 1868 the firm became 
Uunlap & Snaman. Later on dry goods were dropped, and the firm handled only carpets and 
upholstery goods. In 1881 Mr. Dunlap retired, and Mr. Snaman carried on the business alone. 
In 1876 he was elected to Common Council from the Tenth ward, and served until 1881, tliree 
vears of which he was Preident of that bcdy. In 188.5 Mr. Snaman was again elected to Com- 
mon Council, and served until 1887. Since then he has abh- represented tlic Tenth ward in the 
Select Branch. Mr. Snaman originated two very important measures, one relating to the Car- 
negie Free Librarj- and tlie other to the electric light plant, both of which are now accomplished 
facts and a credit to the city. The building wherein Mr. Snaman carries on his business is one 
of the finest and best lighted in the citv . He deals exclusively in carpets, upholstery and wall 
paper, and enjoys one of the most lucrative trades in Allegheny. 

139 



Simon, Charles W. — Mr. Simon, one of the youngest men in Council, first saw the light 
of day in the Third ward, Allegheny. From the age of six until his fourteenth year he attended 
tlie Third ward public school. He then entered the office of his father, who owns a large 
planing mill, located at the corner of Robinson and Anderson streets, Allegheny. He has been 
there ever since, developing considerable business talent and executive power. For jears he 
has been his father's right hand in all matters appertaining to business, and is now manager of 
the mill. Mr. Simon is at present serving his first term in Councils, where he represents the 
Third ward in the Common branch. He is a member of the Natural Gas, Railroads, Wooden 
Buildings and Appeals Committees. 

Smith, J. Henry. — -Mr. Smith was born in 18.58, in the Sixth ward, Allegheny, where he 
attended the public school until he was 14 years old. He then entered Schaefer's Institute, on 
Sixth street, Pittsburgh, where he finished his education. .After leaving the academv' he 
engaged in the teaming and hauling business. Mr. Smith is now a large contractor and owns 
extensive quarries. He is serving his first term in Council, representing the Ninth ward, and is 
a member of several important committees. 

Speer, Wm. W. — Mr. Speer was born in Pittsburgh in ]83£. He moved to Allegheny in 
1868 and took up his residence in the Fifth ward, where he has resided ever since. He is so 
well known in the mercantile world as one of the largest manufacturers of plows in the. country 
that it is not necessary to give an extensive biographical sketch of his Ijusiness life. Mr. Speer 
has represented the Fifth ward in Select Council since 1S77 without intermission. He is one of 
the most influential Councilmcn, and his opinion carries great weight with it when any measure 
of importance comes up for discussion. Mr. Speer is the Chairman of the Police Committee, 
and a member of the Streets and Sewers, Water, Natural Gas, Health, Printing and Wooden 
Buildings Committees. 

St.\cv, John W. — Mr. Stacy, representing the Fourth ward in Common Council, was 
born in 18.5-1, where he also attended the public school. His father, who was a contractor and 
builder, emigrated from London, Eng. , in 1840, and came direct to Allegheny. He was one of 
the contractors for the stone work of the acqueduct. Mr John W. Stacy was elected to 
Councils in 1889. For a number of years he has been engaged in the scrap iron business, in 
which he has been very successful. He is a member of the Roads, Surveys, Printing and Poor 
Farm Committees. 

Stauffer, U. H. — Mr. Stauffer was born in Westmoreland county in 18.57. His parents 
removed to Allegheny when he was still very young, and he has resided in the Fourth ward ever 
since. He was educated at the public schools, and afterwards attended a private institution of 
learning. Young Stauffer thought that the tobacco business offered as good a chance to make 
money rapidlv as any other line of trade, and consequently he went into it. He was a success 
from the very start. Subsequently he formed a partnership with a friend, who was in the same 
line of business, and a new tobacco firm, under the well-sounding name of Ladis & Stauffer, 
made its advent in the world of trade. Everything went along swimmingly, and for three years 
the two young men did a good business. In 1880 they separated, and Mr. Stauffer accepted a 
responsible position with the well-known tobacco firm of Jenkinson& Co. , whose large ware- 
rooms are on Liberty street, Pittsburgh. He has remained there ever since, and is now a silent 
partner in the concern. In 1882 Mr. Stauffer was elected to Common Council from the Fourth 
ward, and so valuable have been his services to his constituents and the cit\' generally, that he is 
now serving his third term. He takes an active part in the consideration of all the business that 
comes before Council, and is one of the best debaters of that body. He is a member of the'Legis- 
lative. Natural Gas, Printing and Auditing Committees. 

Stevenson, Wii,h.\m M. — Mr. Stevenson was born in Johnstown, Pa., but spent most of 
his boyhood in Ligonier, Westmoreland county. He entered the sophomore class at Washington 
and Jefferson College in 1873 and was graduated in 1876, delivering the English salutatory. p\ir 
two years immediately following graduation he was teacher of ancient languages and higher 
mathematics in Placerville ."^.cademy, California. From California he went to Europe to study 




H. H. Bueiitc, C. C. 

G. I. Schoiulelniyer, C. C. 

Chas. \y. Siinou, C". C. 



Fred. Stcniinlcr, C. C 
Theo. Striepeke, C. C. 



Will Thomas, C. C. 
J no W. Staccy, C. C. 
J. G. Ebbert, C. C. 



laiignaKCs aiui music, and for two years prosecuted these studies respectively- at the Dresden 
Conservaton,-, at the Leipzig University and at the College dc I'rancc, Paris. On his return to 
America in 1880 he was called to tliechair of Latin and Greek in the Pittsburgh High School, This 
position lie held for four years, when he resigned to turn his attention to the profession of law. 
He was admitted to the bar in December, 188.5, and from that time until his election as Librarian 
divided his time between the practice of law and newspaper work. He was for several years 
musical and dramatic critic of the Commercial Gazelle, and was for about half a year connected 
with the New York Tribune. Most of last year he spent in Europe pursuing special literary 
Mild linguistic studies in (Icrnfany, France and Spain. He is acquainted with some ten 
languages, and finds this knowledge of great advantage in studying the polyglot works on 
bibliography so necessary to a Librarian in selecting books. Mr. Stevenson was elected 
Librarian May 12, last. 

Stemmi.kr, I'RF.n. — Jlr. Stemniler was bom in Germany in 1838. When he was 12 years 
old his parents emigrated to this countn,-. They came direct to Pittsburgh, residing there until 
1867, when they moved to the Sixth ward, AUegher.y. Mr. Stemniler received part of his 
education in Germany, finishing it at the public schools in Pittsburgh. For twenty years he has 
been in tlie tin and copper business at the same stand on Beaver avenue. He commands a 
prosperous trade, as is quite natural to one who is an honest and thorough-going business man. 
He is serving his first term in Conmion Council, where he represents the Sixth ward. Mr. 
Stenimler is a member of the Committees on Roads, Sur\eys, Markets and the Poor Farm Board. 

StriepEke, Theo. — Mr. Striepeke, Common Councilman from the Third ward, was bom in 
Germany and came to this country in 1862. For several years he was domiciled in the city of 
New York, where he followed his trade, which is that of carpenter and builder. In 1868 he 
came to Allegheny and settled in the Third ward, where he has been living ever since. He is 
now one of the best known contractors in Allegheny, and commands a lucrative busines.s. Mr. 
Striepeke was elected to Councils in 1889, and is serving on the Wooden Buildings, Surveys, 
Wharves and Landings and Railroads Committees, of the first one of which he is Chairman. 

Swindell, Willi.\m. — Mr. Swindell was bom in 1834, in the Third ward, .\llegheny, and 
received his education at the public school in Ross township. When still a verv young man he 
went into the ftirnace building business, and it is but just to say that the name of Swindell is at 
present known in all parts of the United States and Canada in connection with that kind of 
work. Mr. Swindell is the contractor and builder not only of nearly all the large iron furnaces 
in Pittsburgh and Allegheny, but also of a great number in the iron and steel manufacturing 
cities throughout the country. He has been prominently connected with public affairs in 
.\lleghen3" for tlie last sixteen years. He was elected to Common Council by the citizens of the 
Third ward in 187.5, and he has served continually ever since. Mr. Swindell is Chairman of 
the Fire Department, and a member of the Water and Poor Farm Committees. 

Thomas, Willi.mi. — Mr. Thomas, member of Council from the Sixth ward, was born and 
educated in England. He came to the United States in 1863, going direct to Allegheny City, 
took up his residence in Manchester, and has lived there ever since. He is in the merchant 
tailoring business, and has a large custom, secured by square dealing and his personal popularity. 
In Februarv', 1889, Mr. Thomas was elected to Common Council to represent the Sixth ward. 
He is a member of the Park, City Property and Railroad Committees. 

W.\LTHER, John G. — Mr. Walther, who represents the Thirteenth ward in Common Council, 
was born in Germany. He came to this country in 18.52 and went direct to Pittsburgh, where 
for two years he was clerk in a store. In 186! he moved to Allegheny, having been given the 
position of book-keeper in the lirewing finn of Lutz & Walz. That place he held for twentv-four 
years. Five years ago Mr. Walther became connected with the Ebcrhardt & Obcr Brewing Co., 
where he is now in charge of the counting room. He is serving his second term as a memlier 
of Common Council. 

White, Roland Thatcher.— Mr. White, Clerk of Select Council, is the son of the late 
Hon. D. N. White, fonnerly e<litor and proprietor of the Pittsburgh Gazelle. He was bom in 
Pittsburgh, June 14th, 1829. His parents removed to the borough of .\lleghenv when he was 
three years of age. He attended public and private schools. One of his teachers was tJie 

141 



veteran educator, John Kellj', Esq. Later on he entered the Western University*, where he 
remained for two terms. His first step in life was to learn the trade of printer, in the Pittsburgh 
Gazette office. Afterwards he accepted a position as ticket agent on the Ohio & Pennsylvania 
Railroad. Co , and was stationed at Rochester, Pa. The first public office he held was that of 
weighmaster of the Second ward scales, in Allegheny. He served in that capacity from 1869 to 
1873, when he was elected Clerk of Select Council, a position which he has held ever since. 

WOi.KHi, J. R. — Mr. Wolfe was born in Wheeling, W. Va., 44 years ago. He moved to 
Allegheny iji 187.5 and took up his residence in the Fifth ward, where he has lived ever since. 
Mr. Wolfe is an ice dealer. As such he had the opportunity to make many friends, and he 
made good use of it. He is serving his first term in Councils, where he represents the Fifth 
ward in the Common branch. Mr. Wolfe is a member of the Committees on Streets and Sewers, 
Police, Gas and Street Railroads. 

Wyman, Hon. James G. — Mr. Wyman, Mayor of Allegheny, was born in West Cambridge, 
Mass., in the shadow of Harvard College. Four generations of his family were born in America. 
Mayor Wyman is a common-sense man of affairs, and success invariably accompanies his 
judiciously-directed efforts. Brought up in the wholesale foreign fruit business in Boston, the 
associations of an active mercantile life molded his character in a manner that rendered him so 
well fit for the public positions which he afterward was called upon to fill. Coming to .Allegheny 
about twelve years ago, he went into the contract business, and his straightforward personalit)' 
was shown through all his dealings. After satisfactorily representing the First ward, Allegheny, 
in Select and Common Councils, during which he was made Chairman of the Police Connnittee, 
he was elected Mayor over the most popular Democrat in the city, an honor well deserved, 
for he was now in the full maturity of his powers and in the development of manly strength 
and beauty. The progressive element of the Republican party are already speculating on 
advancing him to higher positions in the gift of the people. The Mayor is invincible in politics 
and has never been beaten in a contest. He was but 33 years old when first elected to the 
Mayoralty, and has now attained the age of 39. Though a native of the Hub, he sought for his 
wife one of Allegheny's fairest daughters. 

Wertheimer, Emanuel. — Mr. Wertheimer was born in Wurtemberg, (iermany, and emi- 
grated to this country when quite young. For the last thirty years he has lived in Allegheny. 
He is now, and has been for a long time, one of her most prominent citizens. He is a member 
of the celebrated distilling firm of A. Guckeuhei:ner & Bros., whose works are at Freeport, Pa., 
and the product of which is shipped to all quarters of the globe. Mr. Wertheimer is also Presi- 
dent of the Freeport Bank. It is hardly necessary to speak of his business abilities or the esteem 
in which he is held by his fellow citizens. The former is clearly demonstrated by his eminent 
success in the commercial world ; the latter by the fact that he has represented the Third ward in 
Council for the last fourteen years. All this is well-known, but what the general public is in 
ignorance of is that Mr. Wertheimer gives away every year a large part of his income to the 
poor and needy. The relations existing between him and his workmen are fit to serve as a 
model to every capitalist in the country. They are paid the most liberal wages. \ large num- 
ber of them have been with the firm for many years. Some of them are getting old, and can't 
do the work as of yore. They are told to stay at home, but their names are not taken off the 
pay list. Every Saturday they get their envelope containing the full week's pay, and will con- 
tinue to receive it until their eyes close in eternal sleep. 

GuLiFORD, R. H. — Dr. Gilliford, who represents the Sixtli ward in Select Council, was 
born in Fawn Ttownship, Allegheny County, on November 9, 1849. He received his education in 
the common school and the academy at Tarentum, and at Westminster College, New Wilming- 
ton, Pa. He then studied medicine under Dr. Thomas Galbraith, of Tarentum, and attended 
the medical department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Afterwards 
he went to Charleston, S. C, where he graduated from the medical college of South Carolina. 
In 1874 he came to Allegheny to practice medicine, and has been a resident of that city ever 
since. Dr. Gilliford is a member of the surgical staff' of the Allegheny General Hospital, was 
City Poor Physician, is a member of the Allegheny County Medical Societv, the Pennsylvania 
State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. 

142 







\ -cfct r" i*^ /»/ 




&"^ 


P>- 


r 


m 


«5 t*J^ 


■■tf 


1^, 


/ 




'iw 


'#^^ 


/^^v^- 


K< ' 








Siin'l D. Hiiljcly. 
R. H. Gilliford, M. D. H. A. Knox. 

Michael Hauiian. Jas P. Gict;g Jr. 

John (1. Wallhcr. RolaiKl '1\ While, 

Clerk of Select Council. 



LiNnSAV, I. H. — Mr. Lindsay, President of Select Council, was born in the Third Ward, 
Allegheny, on January 8, 1841, and, after receiving a common school education, went into the 
hardware business in Pittsburgh under the firm name of Lindsay & Co., in which he remained 
until 186;{, when he left that business and started at No. 98 Rebecca street, under the firm name 
of Lindsay S: McCutcheon, where they have been for a quarter of a century. This firm is also 
interested in the Keystone Rolling Mill Company and the Pittsburgh Tube Company. Mr. 
Lindsay is a Director of the First National Bank of Pittsburgh, and Presi<lent of the North Side 
Hridge Company. He has served in Select Council for thirteen years, and was elected President 
six years ago, a position which he has held without interruption ever since. He is a Republican 
in politics, and takes an active part in all movements concerning the interest of that party. He 
employs about 400 men in his iron works, and takes a great interest in their welfare and advance- 
ment. Besides the high position which his wealth and influence give him, Mr. Lindsay is per- 
sonally one of the most highly respected men in Allegheny. 

Nkkh, Charlhs Wii.i,r.\M. — Dr. Charles \V. Neeb, one of Allegheny's foremost and most 
influential citizens, was boru on Mount Troy, Reserve Township, Allegheny County, Pa. He 
received his rudimental education at the Public Schools of his native township. That he was? 
tirightboy is evidenced by the factof his having passed through all the steps of the Common School 
at the age of 12. He next attended Ayer's Latin School (now defunct) in Pittsburgh, for a number 
of years. He then entered the scientific department of the Western University of Pennsylvania. 
Graduating in June 1875 he received the degree of Ph. B. from that institution. As the cataloguer 
show, he was always the first scholar of his class. Shortly after graduating Mr. Neeb departed 
for Europe to continue his studies at some of the most famous institutions of learning of the old 
world. He first attended the h'ealsc/iule and the celebrated Polytechnic School at Hanover, 
Germany. From there he went to the great Ruprccht-Karl L'tiiversity at Heidelberg, where in 
1879 the degrees of Ph. D. and A. M. were conferred upon him. This was a distinction of which 
the young man could well be proud, for it is well known how much severe study is required to. 
merit it from that famous institution. After traveling extensively in European countries, 
and thus, as it were, giving his splendid education the highest possible polish, Mr. Neeb returned 
home and went into the newspaper business. He never has received or ever intends to 
receive even the slightest material benefit from his activity in politics. He is not an office-seeker, 
though there is hardly a man in Pennsylvainia who is better equipped both mentally and morallv 
to hold high public office than Dr. Neeb. He is a true and faithful Republican, as he always has 
been. He was elected to numerous Republican County Conventions, and was twice a member of 
the Republican State Executive Committee. In March 188o he was elected a member of the 
School Board of the First Ward, Allegheny, and in 1884 the people of same ward elected him 
School Director for a term of three years. In 1885 he was elected to Common Council, of which 
body he has been a member ever since. He is a member of nearly all the important Committees, 
and at the Committee meetings, on the most important sub-Committees. He is now chairman of 
the Committee on Ordinances. How closely Dr. Neeb looks after the interests of his constituents 
how faithfully he discharges the duties of his position, how much hard and intelligent work he 
has done to the advantage of the whole city, are facts so well known, that thev need not be 
commented upon. There is one circumstance in Mr. Neeb's councilmanic career, which must 
not go without mention. He was the father of the Semi-Centennial Celebration. Without him 
that grand and memorable event would never have taken place. He first conceived the idea of 
such a celebration and then, single-handed, successfully breasted the strong current of opposition 
which set in against it. 

B.\DER, Wm. — Mr. Bader, who has represented tlie Fourth ward in Common Council since 1887, 
was born in AUeghenj- in 1847. He received a common school education and learned the butcher 
business with his father, whose shop was located on Ohio street. After he had become thorouglily 
familiar witli the business, Mr. Bader went to California, spendsome time in San Francisco and 
then settled down in Stockton, where he was foreman of the largest butcher shop in that city. In 
1870 he returned to Allegheny and went into business for himself on Ohio street. In 1887 he was 
elected to Common Council from the Fourth ward. President Hunter of that body appointed 
him Chairman of the Market Conmiittee, and a member of the Committee on Police, Gas and 
Street Railroads. He was re-electeil in 1891, and is at this writing a member of the Comniittee 
on Surveys and Corporations. 

lis 



Dii.woRTH, Robert.— Mr. Dilworth, Clerk of Common Council, was born May 26th, 184,S, 
on .\rcli street, in the city of Allegheny. He received a thorough common school education, 
and graduated at the Iron City Commercial College in 1859. He subsequently went to the 
blacksmithing trade. While thus engaged the War of the Rebellion broke out, and he enlisted 
as a private in Company C, Gist Regt., P V., Col. O. H. Rippey. Two older brothers were also 
in the same company, one as First Lieutenant and the other as Sergeant. At the battle of Fair 
Oaks, May .'Jlst, 1862, he was severely wounded, and was discharged on account of wonnds in 
August the same year. His two brothers were subsequently wounded, and died of their wounds. 
In ISii:! he engaged as clerk in the County Recorder's office and continued in that capacity until 
elected Clerk of Common Council, January 12th, 1866, in which position he has continued down 
to the present time, having been elected every year from that time to the present. In connection 
with the Clerk of Select Council he has compiled a Councilmanic Manual containing a mass of 
interesting and useful information relating to Allegheny City and its affairs. This work has 
been a valuable aid to Councilmen, and is highly appreciated by citizens generally. In addition 
to holding the office of Clerk of Common Council, he has also been Collector of Delinquent 
Taxes for the period from 1867 to 1885. In religion he is a Methodist, having been a member of 
the Arch Street M. E. Church since 1865. 

FrashER, Lee. — Mr. Frasher was born in Fayette county, where he also received his edu- 
cation. At the age of fourteen, he came to \llegheny city and learned the trade of brick laying. 
He has been a resident of Allegheny ever ince. After he had served his apprenticeship, he 
worked for five j'cars as a journeymen. Being an enterprising and energetic young fellow, he 
then struck out lor himself by becoming a contractor for brick work. Possessing industry and 
perseverance, he could not help being successful in any business he might engage in, and to-day 
Mr. Frasher gets as many contracts as he can well attend to. He is now serving his second term 
in Common Council, in which body he represents the Sixth ward. To show how popular a man 
he is, it is only necessary to state that he is a strong democrat and that the Sixth is one of the 
banner republican wards of the city. During his first term he was chairman of the committe on 
Natural Gas and a member of the Committee on Railroads, Poor Farm and Wooden Buildings. 
On the re-organization of Councils in 1891, he was appointed a member of the Committee on 
Public Works and Corporation. 

GiLLELAND, John A. — Mr. Gilleland, postmaster of Allegheny, was born in Ohio township, 
Allegheny county, in 1841. When he was twenty years old, he came to Allegheny city and 
secured a position in the dry goods store of William Sample. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in 
the 123d Pennsylvania Volunteers and went to the front. He was present at the battles of Bull's 
Run, Daily's Cross Roads, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancelorville and many others. In 1863, 
having served nine months, the term for which he had enlisted, he returned to .Allegheny and 
resumed his work at the establishment of Mr. Sample. But it appears that, while there was still 
any fighting going on, the young ex-soldier did not find the peaceful vocation of clerking in 
a dry goods store to his taste. He enlisted again, this time in the 193d Pennsylvania Volunteers, 
and in 18fi4 went to Baltimore with his regiment. In the latter part of that year he was finally 
mustered out and returned to Allegheny, again resuming his position with William Sample. But 
the soldier would not down, and in February 1865, Mr. Gilleland, James Shaw and Edward Noble 
organized a company, of which Mr. Shaw was made captain and Mr. Gilleland second lieutenant. 
The company was composed of patriotic young men, who were willing to shed their blood for 
their country. It must be remembered that Mr. Gilleland was at that time barely 21 years old, 
but he was already a veteran. War makes veterans quickly and during his service in the army 
it had been his lot always to be at the front. Captain Shaw offered the services of his company. 
They were accepted and the company was sworn in to the 77th Regiment Pennsylvavia Volun- 
teers, which was shortly afterwards send to Baltimore. From there it was ordered to East Ten- 
nessee, to help in preventing Johnson to cross the Cumberland Mountains. Thence it proceeded 
to Nashville, Tenn. for re-organization. When that had taken place, it was ordered to go South, 
and on the 22d of June went into camp nine miles below New Orleans. On the 14th of July it 
embarked again and was landed at Port Lavaka, or Powderhorn inlet as it was called. From there 
it proceeded to Victoria, Texas. After several months at that place, the war being ended, the 
Regiment disbanded. Lieutenant Gilleland received a honorable discharge on account of the 
war being ended. He was paid off' at Philadelphia, on Jan. 16th, 1866. Again he returned to 









:^ 




p'rank Curry. 
D. F. Graham. 
\V. H. Stauffer. 



J. Henry Smith. 



Jesse M. McCiCary. 



W. J. Pattoii. 
T. L. Ober. 

C. -V. Koehlcr. 



AUcglicnv and remained with William Sample until l(i67. Then he accepteil a position in the 
dry goods house of Irwin, McConnell & Co. A few years later he went into business for himself 
on Beaver avenue, Allegheny. Mr. Gilleland was doing a very prosperous merchant tailoring 
business when he was appointed Postmaster of Allegheny by President Harrison. He has served 
six years as School Director and for five years was a member of the Poor Board. 

H.\RTM.\N, Ch.vrles H. — A man of whouiit can be rightly said that he grew up with the 
town, is Mr. Hartman, the veteran representative of the Ninth ward in Select Council. For over 
fourteen years he has been a member of that body, attending to his duties as Councilman with 
that thoroughness and circumspection which distinguishes him in private life. That his 
constituents fully appreciated his assiduity in serving their interests has been demonstrated every 
time he was a candidate for re-election. Mr. Hartman was born in Gennany, in 1825. His 
parents emigrated to this country when he w^s but seven years old. They were among the 
pioneers of .\llegheny. Thev settled in Reserve township, afterwards called McClure township, 
a portion of which became the N'inth ward. Young Charles attended the Voeghtle\- school, one 
of the earliest institutions of learning on the North Side, of which Rev. Daubart was the principal. 
.\t the age of sixteen he learned the trade of machinist and engineer at Albany, Indiana. For 
nineteen years he followed the River, going as far as New Orleans. He quitted steamboating to 
return to .Allegheny, where he engaged in the business of a contractor for stone work and the 
paving of streets. Since 18H6 he has been the proprietor of that well known hostlery on Preble 
avenue, which bears his name. 

LanghorsT, \Vm. C. — Mr. Langhorsl was born in the Fourtli ward, .\llegheny in 18.51;. He 
received a common school education after which he was apprenticed to the grocery business 
following it for the next seven years. From that he went into the iron business, learning heating, 
puddling and rolling. For fifteen years he was an iron worker being employed in the mills of 
/.ug & Co., and Hussey, Howe & Co. Mr. Langhorst first entered public life when Mayor 
McGraw appointed him to 4 position in the .Allegheny police department, which he held until 
appointed County Detective by District Attorney Robb. This highly important and responsible 
office he retained for the period of eight years, the best proof that he discharged the duties of the 
s;ime with ability. In 18ST he w-as elected to Select Council from the Twelfth ward. He was 
appointed by President Lindsay of that body, chairman of the .Auditing committee, and a mem- 
ber of the committees on Markets, Poor Farm, Police, Printing, Street, Railroads and Water. 
When Allegheny became a city of the second class. Chief Murphy of the Department of Public 
Safety appointed him to a position on the detective force. 

Mir.l..\RD, RiCH.\RD. — Mr. Millard, who represents the Eleventh ward in Common Council, 
was born on the South Side, Pittsburgh, in 1844. When he was still in his childhood, his parents 
removed to Ironton, Ohio. There Richard went to school. He was little more then twelve years 
old when he went to work in one of the mills at Ironton. At the outbreak of the war young 
Millard followed the first call and joined the Second West Virginia Cavalry Regiment of Vol- 
unteers. He fought under Custer, and that is to say that he was engaged in some of the bloodiest 
cavalry fights during the war. He was present at the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill, 
Stevenson's Depot, Lynchburg, Lewisburg and a number of others, that have been thought 
worthy of being recorded in history. After tlie war, Mr. Millard returned to his work at Ironton, 
went from there to Youngstown, Steubenville, Columbus, Cleveland, and finally settled in 
.Allegheny, where he went to work for Lewis, Oliver & Philipps, now Oliver Iron and Steel 
Company. This was in 1878, and he has been with that firm ever since, in the capacity ot a boss 
roller. Mr. Millard owns a beautiful home in the Eleventh ward. 

Mc.Afkk, Robert. — F'or the last ten years Mr. McAfee has represented the Eleventh ward 
in Select Council. He has made a good record there. No one can say of him that he has ever 
neglected to do his duty as representative in Councils of the citizens of the Eleventh ward. The 
best evidence for this is his long term in the municipal legislature. Constituents are quick to 
find out, wether their representatives in a public body are looking after their interests. For eight 
years he was chairman of the street committee. Mr. McAfee was born in the North of Ireland, 
County Antrim. He was educated at Belfast, .^fter leaving school he was given a position in a 
large mercantile establishment in Liverjjool, England. He held it for two years, during which 
he was initiated into the mysteries of International Commerce. He then went to Gla,sgow, 

146 



Scottland, where he held a similar position. In l.Sfi'J he came to America and settled in AUejfheny , 
where he was given a place as shipping clerk in Lewis, Oliver and Phillips Iron Mill. For the 
last 12 years he has been the general manager of the Woods Run Mill of the Oliver Iron and 
Steel Company. 

Neeb John N. — The editorial manager of the Freiliciis-Freiind, one of the most prosper- 
ous and influential German dailies in Pennsylvania, was born on Maine street near Chestnut' 
Allegheny, March 19, IS.il. He is the son of William Neeb, one of the owners of the Freibeils- 
Freiind. He attemled public school on Troy Hill, and went through the junior year in the 
Western University. On January 1, 1868, he entered upon his journalistic career, and is now 
the guiding spirit of his father's paper. He has been a member of the Republican County 
Committee ever since he was 21 years of age. He has attended county conventions every year, 
and has been a delegate to half a dozen State conventions. On numerous occasions he ha^ 
presided over local conventions In a word, Mr. Neeb has been a factor in Allegheny county 
politics since he cast his first vote. For six years he lived in Pittsburgh, and in 1875 was elected 
to the Pittsburgh Conmion Council for the Third Ward. In 1877 he resigned to take up his 
residence in Allegheny again, where he lives at No. 4 Stockton avenue, with his father. In 1878 
he was appointed by Governor Hartranft a member of the Morganza Reformatory Board, and 
has been re-appointed by Governors Hoyt, Pattison and Beaver. For two years he has been 
Secretary of the Board. He is also a Director of the Wheeling Gas Company. The celebrated 
home rule contest, made by Mr. Neeb in the First Legislative District in Allegheny on being 
elected to the County Committee last year, will be long remembered. He is undoubtedly one of 
the most popular men in the two cities. His jovial and affable manners make him friends 
wherever he goos. He is the only man who ever occupied the Presidency of the Pittsburgh 
Pre.ss Club for two terms. On June 3, 1890, Mr. Neeb was nominated a candidate for the State 
Senate by the Republicans of the Forty-second District, and elected over his Democratic oppo- 
nent, Mr. Henry Meyer, the popular and well-known attorney, by a majority of 5,824. 

P.\PPERT, ConsTantin. — Mr. Pappert, who is serving his second term in Common Council 
as a representative of the Thirteenth ward, was born in Germany, county Fulda, where he 
attended the Public Schools, until he was fourteen years old. In 1866, as a young man of about 
twenty, he came to this country and settled in Alleghenj-, where he learned the trade of a 
plasterer. At first he located in the Fourth ward, but since 1874 he has been a resident of the 
Thirteenth. In 1869 he married Miss Mary Thomas of Allegheny, who was also German by 
birth. Mr. Pappert was during his first term in Council the Chairman of the Poor Board 
Committee, now he is a member of the Committee on Public Charities and Survey. 

RODRICK, D.wiD. — Mr. Rodrick one of the representatives in Common Council, of the 
Ninth ward, is an iron worker, employed by the Oliver Iron and Steel Company. He was born 
in Merther, South Wales, England, in 18.58, there he also went to school. In 1868 he came to 
this country and settled in Allegheny, located in the Ninth ward, of which he has been a resident 
ever since. Mr. Rodrick is one of the Councilmen elected iinder the new city charter, which 
makes Allegheny a city of the second class. When Mr. Parke the chairman of Common, 
appointed the standing committees for the new fiscal year, he assigned Mr. Rodrick to serve on 
the Library and Public Safety Committees, two of the most important committees on the list. 
Mr. Rodrick is very popular among the citizens ot his ward, as was demonstrated by the number 
of votes cast for him at the municipal election. 

Smith, Jo.s. B. — Mr. Smith was born in the Second ward, Allegheny, in 1848. He received 
his education partly at the Second ward Public School and partly at the school located in 
McClure township. After his school days he learned the bricklaying trade, a business which he 
has followed for the last thirty years. When quite a young man yet, he went into business for 
himself, a few j-ears later taking in his brother as a partner. Operations were then carried on 
under the firm name of A. B. & J. B. Smith. They do the largest business and employ a greater 
number of men then any other firm in their line in the two cities. They contract for brick work 
exclusively. Mr. Smith is now' serving his third term in Councils where he represents the 
Twelfth ward. During his term of 1889-90 he was a member of the Committees on Finance, 
City Property, Gas, Street Railroads and Legislation. He is now a member of the Committee 
on Surveys. 

U6 




"^ 



Charles H. HHrtiimn. 



Will. G Langhorst. 




'"rC ^R^ 




Lee Fraslier. 



Coiislaiitiii Pappert. 



'i 



1 




.< .-"^^ 


• /w-ii.,^- ■---'*^\'"^ 


- 



David Roflrick. 



Robert McAfee. 






Ricliar.l Millanl. 



Jos. B. Siiiitli. 











I* 

J 






^^ 




( 


^^ 


A 


■ 





J. A. GILLKI.A.N]) 
I'OSTMASTHR. 






LU'illiW 







II '('inl'lr, ^/ 



"' '^/^ '^ 



■pimy'/oto-sy^c^- 



/J\llc^\)ei)Y cis a Ciby o^ \i\)e Secoi)cl Class, y 



PORTRAITS 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 

OK 

Chiefs of Departments and 
Councilmen. 

Elected under the ne^^^ City Charter 

1891. 




■'•iS 




JOHN R. MlRrilV, 
CHIKF Ol- THK IlKI'AKTMK.sr OK I'l'liMC .SAFKTY. 



BiooRAPHicAL Sketches. 



AlbrkchT, Hknry. — Mr. Albrecht the newly elected Councilman from the Third ward, 
Allegheny, was born in the same ward in 1853. He attended the Third ward public school. When 
he had gone through all the grades of the school, he learned the coopering trade, a business 
which his father had been engaged in for many years. This he followed up for fully twelve 
years. He was at one time boss cooper in the coopering shop of the Workhouse. Then he went 
into the upholstering business, where he met with rare success. The firm of Hagemayer 6v: 
Albrecht, whose six-storied warehouse stands on the corner of North avenue just above Madison 
avenue, Allegheny, now do a larger wholesale upholstering business than any other house in 
their line in Western Pennsylvania. Mr. Albrecht received 1193 votes from the citizens of his 
ward, figures that tell more of his popularity than pages of written matter could do. Mr. Albrecht's 
father was an Allegheny Councilman for eight years. He retired four j-ears ago. 

Arm.strong, Rich.\rd. — Mr. Armstrong, who represents the Twelth ward in Common 
Council, has the distinction of being the youngest member of Councils, in both Allegheny and 
Pittsburgh. He was born in Pittsburgh, in 1867, and attended the Public Schools. When still 
very young, he started to work in the printing office of Joseph Hichbaum & Co., with the 
intention of becoming a Pressman. He remained with that firm for four years, and then accepted 
a position as Pressman with Smith Brothers, whose offices are located in the building of The 
Dispatch Publishing Company on Diamond street, Pittsburgh, which he has held ever since. 
When Mr. Parke, the President of Common Council appointed his standing committees for the 
year, he made Mr. Armstrong a member of the Con\mittee of Public Works and Auditing, two of 
the most important on the list. 

'^Armstrong, Edward. — The Chief of the Department of Public Works is an old resident of 
the city of Alleghen\-, and one of the best known men among its citizens. His ten years service 
as Superintendent of the Water Works brought him prominently before the public, and tlie 
efficiency with which he has filled that position, gained him the confidence and respect of the 
citizens of Allegheny, which was clearly demonstrated when Allegheny bec;mie a city of the 
second class, and Council elected him Chief of the Department of Public Works, a position of 
great responsibility-. Mr. Armstrong was born in Ireland, in 1837. In 1851 his parents came to 
America and settled in Pittsburgh, a few 3-ears later removing to Alleghenv. Kdward wanted to 
become a machinist, and so he was apprenticed to the construction of Steam machinery. He 
must have been a bright lad, as a few j-ears later he was already made foreman of the shops of 
A. Hartupee & Marrow. In 1864 he went into business for himself and in partnership with 
Mapes, Andrews & Abby, erected shops for the manufacture of steam engines at the corner of 
Park Way and Sandusky street, Allegheny. He is the inventor of the fire plug and the patentee 
of the stop gates, special %'alve gear used for steam engines, and to him are due all the improve- 
ments which have made the Lowry engine a success. Mr. Armstrong went out of business in 
1878 to accept a position as foreman of the shops of Jarvis S: Gray, steanifitters, in Pittsburgh. In 
1881 he was made Superintendent of the .\llegheny Water Works. He has been a resident of 
Allegheny since 1860. 

liORN, John A. — One of the youngest Councilman in Allegheny is Mr. John A. Born repre- 
senting the Eighth ward. He was born in 1860 in the same ward which he now has the honor to 
represent in the municipal legislature. Mr. Born received his rudimentary education at the 
public schools of his native citj'. After having gone through all the grades there, he attended 
the polytechnic institute of John Davis, on Federal street, .Mlegbeny. Then he went into the 
butcher business with his father, one of the best known butchers in the Citv of .'Mlcghcnv. Mr. 
Born is well liked among his constituents, who gave him a very handsome vote at the last 
municipal election. 



149 



Dickson, Jas. W. — Dr. Dickson, who is one of the well-known physicians of Allegheny, was 
elected to Common Council from the Fifth ward, in February, 1891. He was born in Sewickley, 
Allegheny county, in 1852. There and in Canonsburg he received his elementary education. In 
1875 he graduated from the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. In the same year he 
settled in Allegheny citj- to practice medicine, a profession in which he has met with deserved 
success. Dr. Dickson is a man of genial manners and very popular in the ward which he re- 
presents in Councils, as was shown by the handsome vote he received at the election. When 
President Parke of Common Council appointed his standing Committees for ithe year, he made 
him a member of the Conmiittee on Charieties. He is a cousin of Dr. Joseph Dickson of 
Pittsburgh. 

ESHEi.M.\N, Fred. D. — Mr. Eshelman is serving his first term in Council. He represents 
the Second ward, the banner 2t<ard of Allegheny, it is called. It is a case where the office 
wanted the man, instead of the man seeking the office. Although Mr. Eshelman is one of 
the substantial and most respected citizens of the Second ward, of which he has been a resident 
for many years, it never occurred to him to be a candidate for office. He pursued the even 
tenor of his way without bothering about politics. But when AUeghenj- became a city of the 
second class, and the duties of Councilmen became so much more important and responsible, 
the people looked around for just such men to represent them in the municipal legislature. Mr. 
Eshelman was prevailed upon by his friends to become a candidate. He received 1 ,022 votes, 
and was elected. Mr. Parke, the President of Common Council, appointed him a member of the 
Finance Committee, an additional honor. Mr. Eshelman was born in Lancaster county, Pa., 
in 1831. He comes from one of the oldest families in Pennsylvania. To this day there is a 
log house standing between Mastersonville and Milton Grove, Lancaster county, which was 
built in 1700 by his ancestors. 

In 18:^.5 Mr. Eshelman's parents removed to Pittsburgh, where he attended the First ward 
public school later on. In 1846 he learned the carpenter trade and was engaged in steamboat cabin 
building until 1865. He then tried his fortune in the oil country for a few years. After his 
return he engaged in the planing mill business. Since 1877 he has been doing general carpenter 
work. Forty years ago he was married to Eliza A. Ashworth, and has eight children, three sons 
and five daughters. 

FreiENSTEIn, August. — Mr. Freienstein, who represents the Thirteenth ward in Common 
Council, was born in what now is the Eighth ward, Allegheny, in 1867. He attended the St. 
Mary's School. When he was still very young he was employed in a plumbing and gas fitting 
store. His business was to run errands and otherwise make himself useful. Later on he learned 
the machine moulding trade. During five years he was employed in that capacity by Westing- 
house Air Brake Company. He is a member of the Committee on Auditing and Public Works. 

Gerwig, CH.\Rt,ES W. — Mr. Gerwig, who represents the Third ward in Common Council, 
was born of German parents, in Allegheny, May 31, 1842. His elementary education he received 
at the Public Schools. Afterwards he was a student at the Pittsburgh High School when that 
institution was first organized. In Februarj' 1858 he moved with his parents to Ohio, where he 
followed farming until the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1861. In April of the same vear, he 
enlisted as a private in the 4th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In 1864 he was 1st 
Sergeant in the 162d Regiment Ohio Volunteers, and in February 1865, as a reward for his gallant 
services during the war, he received his commission as 1st Lieutenant in the 184th Regiment of 
the Ohio Volunteers. He was finally discharged, September 22, 1865. Having done his share 
in defending the constitution; and a gallant share it was, he returned home and again followed 
the peaceful occupation of a farmer, until 1870. Then he went into the Grain and Feed business 
until 1876. After that he held a position in the County Tfeasurer and Commissioner's office, 
and in 1873 he was appointed Mercantile Appraiser. In 1879 he moved to Allegheny City. He 
was Bond Clerk of Allegheny County until December 1, 1887. In February 1885, he was elected 
to Common Council to represent the Third ward, was re-elected in 1887, and is a member of the 
present Council. In 1887 he was elected Secretary of the Teutonia Insurance Company of 
Allegheny. Mr. Gerwig is one of the best known citizens of Allegheny. He is a public speaker of 
considerable force and eloquence, and one of the most efficient members of Councils, where his 
ready speech and his knowledge of parlimentary rules and usage stand him in good stead. He 
is a member of the Committee on Public Works and Finance. Mr. Gerwig is married and has 
two children. 

150 





-fc 



BarUiii Gnil>l). 



K.lwanl Alln-tK.ll.j 



i. 






"«> 


A 


i 




Maj. James A. McLaughli 



GoETTMANN, F. G., jR. — Mr. Gocttnianti was born in Allegheii)' in 1859. He received a 
common education in the schools of his native town. When he was about fifteen years 
old he went to work in an iron mill. For ten years he was a steel worker at one of the largest 
rolling mills in their neighborhood. During that time he did not neglect his education, having 
the ambition to rise some day above tlie position of a steel worker. He read and studied after 
having done a hard day's work, to such good puqjose. that he fitted himself to hold a position in 
the Countv Treasurer's oflfice, a place which was given liim some four or five years ago. Since 
the 1st of January, Ihill, Mr. Goettmann has been in the Recorder's office, where he holds a 
responsible position. He was elected to Common Council by the citizens of the Fifth ward at the 
last municipal election, (1891), and polled a large vote. Mr. Goettman is very popular among 
his constituents. 

Grihu.s, Bartox. — The Chief of the Department of Public Charities, was born in 
Butler, the seat of Justice for Butler county. State of Pennsylvania, iu 1850. Four years later his 
parents removed to Allegheny City, where they took up their residence in the Third ward. Mr. 
Grubbs attended the I'ourth Ward Public School in Pittsburgh. After having gone through all 
the grades there, he accepteti a position as clerk with the firm of McCrome S: Gloide, dealers in 
Notions and Gents' Furnishing Goods, whose place of business was located on Market street, 
Pittsburgh. He remained witli them for eigth years. Subsequently he accepted a position with 
F. H. Eaton, now Clerk of Charities in Pittsburgh, but who was at that time in the Notion 
business, on Fifth avenue. At the end of one year Mr. Grubbs gave up his position and went 
into the Merchant Tailoring business, under the firm name of Scandrett & Co., Mr. Scandretl 
being his father-in-law. In 1884 he became the Water Assessor for the City of Allegheny, which 
position he has held until elected by Councils Chief of the Department of Public Charities. Sir. 
Grubbs election to that important and responsible position has given general satisfaction. Both 
morally and intellectually he is well fitted to be the head of that department. 

L.^Ni"-, John J. — Mr. tang the well-known grocery merchant, whose establishment is located 
on Chestnut street, Allegheny, was elected to Common Council in February, 1891. He polled 
the largest vote ever given to any candidate for office from that ward, or any other w'ard in the 
city, namely l-ii7. This large vote will seem even more phenomenal when it is .stated that Mr. 
Lang is a democrat. A man must be very popular indeed, and his sterling qualities as a citizen 
very well known, if he is a democrat and can poll such a vote in the Third ward, Allegheny, one 
of the republican strongholds in the cit\-. Mr. Lang was born in 185(i in the Fourth ward, 
Alleghenv, and went to school there. At about fifteen years of age he learned tlie tinner's trade, 
a business in which his father had been engaged for a long time. After a while he left his trade 
for tlie grocery business and for a number of jears he has owned a large store stocked complete 
with everything that goes to make up a first class establishment of that kind. Mr. Lang did not 
become a candidate for council from his own choice. For the last five years his neighbors had 
been urging him to accept the candidacy, and at last he consented. 

Lewis, Charles V. — It would be difficult to find a more popular man in the two cities than 
Mr. Lewis. He is the very essence of geniality and good fellowship. He is a good talker, a 
delightful companion, one of those men with whom one can spend an evening without looking 
to see what time it is. His stock of anecdote is inexhaustible. He once belonged to the dram- 
atic profession, and in his capacity as an actor, has traveled all over this country and a good 
part of the old world. Mr. Lewis was born in New York City, fifty-five years ago. When nine- 
teen years old he became an actor, and reuiained a member of the craft for fifteen years. Burlesque 
was his forte and Irish and German dialect his favorite parts. At the outbreak of the war he 
enlisted in the 8th N. Y. Yolunteers, who afterwards became famous as the Durvie Zuaves. Mr. 
Lewis went into the war as a private, he came out as a first lieutenant. In 1871 he went to 
Chicago, where he entered into tlie newspaper business as a stereotyper. In ISSl he came to 
Pittsburgh and took charge of the stereotyping department of the '"Dispatch." He remained 
with that paper for nine years, residing in .■Mlegheny. Then he became one of the proprietor's 
of the " Yolksblatt," a German paper, also looking after its stereotyping apparatus. In February 
1891, he was elected to Common Council by the citizens of the 5th ward. .Allegheny. His election 
was almost unanimous. 

1.51 



MuTH, Henry. — The superintendent of the Bureau of Police, was born in the 6th ward, 
Allegheny, in 1860. He received his elementary education at the public school of his ward, also 
going to the German school. .•Vfter leaving the school, he took a full course at the Iron City 
College. Then he learned the trade of machine moulding in the Rosedale Foundry, where he was 
employed for eight years Then he went to the establishment of Mcintosh, Hemphill & Co., 
Limited, with whom he stayed four years, .\bout two years ago, he was given a position in the 
I'nited States Revenue Office. When Allegheny became a city of the second class, and Mr. Murph\' 
was elected by Councils Chief of the Department of Public Safety, it was important to have a 
trustworthy man at the head of the Bureau of Police, and Mr. Muth was appointed. 

McL.^L'GHLiN, J.A.MES A. — Mr. McLaughliu who has been appointed Superintendent of the 
Biu-eau of Health by the Chief of the Department of Public Charities, was born in 1844 in East 
Liberty now the Nineteenth ward, Pittsburg. He received his education at the Fourth ward 
public school in Pittsburg. He was a bright, intelligent boy, candid, good hearted, and well 
liked by his teachers as well as liis schoolmates. These qualities Major McLaughlin has carried 
with him into manhood and they are his to-day. After leaving school he learned the last-making 
trade. August 16th, 1861, he enlisted in Company P, 102d Regiment, and took part in some of 
the hardest fought battles of the civil war. He was wounded in the battle of \'illiers, Ma3- 5, 1 862, 
and again, on May 3, 1862, at the battle of Salem Church. He was mustered out Sept. 16, 18ti4, 
came home and again took up his trade. But last-making, no matter how profitable, could not 
satisfy a man of Mr. McLaughlin's disposition and intelligence. He was ambitious. He wanted 
to rise in the world, and forthwith became a newspaper man. For several years he was connected 
with the old Chronicle now the Chroniiie-Telegraph. That was the ste]3ping stone to his sub- 
sequent career. When he left the Chronicle he went into the Revenue office of the Twenty-third 
district. Since that he has held positions in County Treasurer's and Recorder's offiices. The 
position he now holds, that of Superintendent of the Bureau of Health in Allegheny, is one of 
great responsibility. 

NESBIT, William W. — Mr. Nesbit was born on Fulton street, Pittsburgh, in 1844 When 
he was but eighteen months old his parents took up their residence in New York City. He 
received his elementary education at the public schools, afterwards attending one of the collegiate 
institutions oi the metropolis. Then he went into the house furnishing business but soon abandoned 
it for the stud}' of law. He spend two years in the office of one of the well-known law firms on 
Nassau street. New York. In 1861 he came to Pittsburgh. It seemed to him that there were 
more lawyers then clients in Pittsburgh, and thought it wise to make living at something else. 
And so he learned the trade of paper hanging, a business in which he has been engaged ever 
since. Mr. Nesbit belongs to the third generation of the family by that name, since it settled in 
the state of Pennsylvania He is related to many of the prominent families in the state. His 
mother was a cousin of Mrs. Mansfield Brown, whose husband founded the town of Mansfield, 
Pa. A cousin of his father founded Hollidaysburg, in Cambria County, Pa. Mr. Nesbit is 
serving his first term in council. He represents the Tenth ward, and resides on Perrysville 
avenue, near Woods run. 

Oliver, John C. — It is very gratifying to know that among the Allegheny Councilmen 
elected to serve uuder the new city charter there are a number of gentlemen belonging to a class 
which, to all outside appearance has heretofore taken but little interest in the welfare of the city. 
we mean professional men, manufacturers, prominent business men, men of integrity, and men 
of education. They seldom take the trouble to vote, much less consent to run for office. It 
requires going into politics, they say, and to most of them politics is an abomination. But a 
change is taking place. The present Councils of the City of Allegheny contains lawyers, 
physicians, manufacturers, in short, men who are prominent in all walks of life. Mr. John 
C. Oliver, a sou of the well-known iron manufacturer David B. Oliver, represents the 11th ward 
in Common Council. He was born in Pittsburgh, on the 29th day of October, 1863. 
His elementary education he received at the Public Schools of Allegheny. He then took a full 
Scientific course at Yale College, graduating with the class of 1885, when he was but little more 
than twenty years of age. He returned home, and was emplo^'ed as a shipping clerk in one of 
his father's mills. Slowly he worked his way up from that position, and to-day he is the Manager 
ot the Oliver Steel and Iron Company's Fifteenth street mill, on tlie South Side. It was a week 

152 




^ ^ 










Tames W. Dickson, M. D. 



J. O. Home. 



/>^ 



'^- m 




Will \V. Ncsl)it. 



I&- 



«**.. 




John C. (llivcr. 



before election wlieti he consented to become a candidate for member of Common Council from 
the P^lcventh ward. The time was very short in which to <lo any elTective campaign work. 
Happily, however, Mr. Oliver was personally well-known to the majority of the citizens iu his 
ward, and he came off with flying colors. Mr. Oliver is a member of the Committees on Library 
and Public Works. 

P.\UI.IN, S. C. — Mr. Paulin, who was elected to Common Council in February, 1891, by the 
citizens of the Tenth ward, .Allegheny, was born on Chestnut street. Fourth w-ard, Allegheny, in 
the year 1858. He received a common school education. .'^fter he quitted school he 
was for a while employed in the Juniata Iron Works. In 1872 he was given a 
position with the firm of Grove & Bair, dealers in toys, at that time established under the Cen- 
tral Hotel, in Allegheny. A few years later the business was moved to I'ittsburgh, where it was 
carried on under the name of James W. Grove. Mr. Paulin's sterling qualities soon m.ide him 
a valuable man in the business. During the oil excitement he was sent to Petrolia, Butler 
county, to establish a store for the firm there. .All went well as long as the oil business was good, 
when that collapsed the store ceased to be a source of profit. Mr. Paulin came back to Pitts- 
liurgli and has been with his old firm ever since, holding a confidential position. The toy house 
of James W. Grove is one of the largest, if not the largest in the State. 

RowBOTTOM, Geo. W. — Mr. Rowbottom was elected to a seat in Common Council bv the 
citizens of the Sixth ward. One thousand and three votes were cast for him, 'which will seem a 
very handsome vote, when it is stated that Mr. Rowbottom was in Europe at the time of his 
election. Had he been home and taken a personal part in the councilmanic contest it is safe to 
say that he would have polled a tliousand more votes. However, there were more than enough 
votes to elect him and he was content with that. Mr. Rowbottom was born in Pittsburgh, in 
18i4. When he was still very young his parents removed to Allegheny. He received his edu- 
cation at the public schools, .\fter leaving school he was apprenticed to the stone cutting trade. 
Ho followed it for six years and then went into business with his father who was a plumber. For 
the last four years Mr. Rowbottom has been in the same line of business with his brotlier at 260 
Beaver avenue, enjoying a large and lucrative trade. Sixteen years ago Mr. Rowbottom was 
married to Miss Kate Taylor of Pittsburgh, a most estimable young lady. Six children are the 
result of this happy union. Recently Mr. Rowbottom has put up an elegant residence for him- 
self on Washington avenue. 

Speidel, Hexv E. — Henry E. Speidel who represents the Fourth ward, .Allegheny, in Com- 
mon Council, was born in Pittsburg in 1866. During his earl\- childhood his parents moved to 
.\llegheny, where they have resided ever since. Mr. Speidel received his elementary education 
at the Third wa 1 public school in Allegheny, .\fter having gone through all the grades there he 
attended night school at the Duff and Curry Institutes. Later on he went into the cork-cutting 
business, in which he was engaged for over twelve years. Mr. Speidel always took a great 
interest in labor matters. Being exceptionally bright, he soon made himself familiar with all the 
phases of the greatest (juestion that confronts society to-day, and thus fitted himself to be a leader 
in the labor movement. He has always been prominently identified with the aflTairs of the 
Knights of Labor organization, and now holds the important position of Secretary of District 
.Assembly, No. S of that order. 

St.vving, H. p. — Mr. Staving was born in the Third ward, Allegheny, thirty-eight years 
ago. He received a public school education, and then learned the trade of printing in the office 
of the Pittsburgh / 'olksblatl, at that time under the management of Carl Bauer. Mr. Sta^ang, 
however, soon forsook this trade for that of fresco painting, which seems to have been more to 
his taste, for he has worked at it ever since. M. first he was employed by the firm of Michael & 
Son, Pittsburgh, with whom he remainetl for nearly nine years. Then he was given a position 
in the Fort Wayne railroad shops, which he helil for nearly ten years. After that he started in 
business for himself, and has been very successful, being a fresco painter of rare skill But at 
this writing Mr. Staving is about to enter the I'nited States civil service, having been given a 
position in the office of Revenue Collector Warmcastle. In February 1891, Mr. Staving was 
elected to Common Council by the citizens of the third ward, who gave him 11.'?.') votes This 
will be his third term in Councils. For the last twelve years he has been secretary of .Vlleghen)- 
Council 112, Jr. O. U. A. M., and is the originator of the Washington monument in .Vlleghcny 
Parks. Its erection is an achievement of which he can well be proud. 

153 



Winters, David. — Mr. Winters was born near Woods Run, Allegheny, in 1847. During his 
early boyhood his parents moved to the country, where David went to school. At the age of 
nineteen he came to town to learn the trade of carpenter. He was apprenticed to the, at that 
time well-known firm of McGraw & Brookeman, with whom he remained for three years. After 
that he was for two years emploj'ed by the firm of Fox S: Aushultz. Mr. Winters then thought 
he would try and see how much monej' there was in the tobacco business. For about eighteen 
months he dealt in tobacco and cigars, and then went into the retail Grocery business. This was 
in 1S72. He stuck to it until 18HH, when he became a general contractor for grading and hauling of all 
kinds. He took in his brother as a partner, and D. Winter ^t Bro. is to.-day one of the best 
and most favorably known contracting firms of the two cities Besides possessing exceptional 
business qualities, Mr. Winters a very popular man on account of his open heartcdness and good 
fellowship. He was elected to Allegheny Common Council in February 1891, to represent the 
Second Ward. Although there were not less than twenty-two candidates running in that ward, 
he carried off the victory by as handsome a majority as any man could wish to have. Mr. 
Winter resides on Webster avenue, where he has a comfortable home. 




154 




f.y SL-^rjgf ■ 



Henrv Albrecht. 



Fred. D. Eshehiian. 




.(^ "^^ 




J 



Geo. W. Rowbottom. 



John J. Laug. 





Charles \' l^cwis 



S. C. raiilin. 




Kii-li:iiil Ariiistr 




Willi MM liidci 




M ^ 



<-i .BL*J, j 



!■■. G. G.'iaUiMii. 





H K. Spcidel. 



H. I*. SUiviiii; 




PF.TKR WALTER, JR. 

No man ever took part in the affairs of the City of Allegheny that was held in higher public 
esteem than Peter Walter, Jr. During his eighteen years of service as a Councilman, even in 
the heat of political warfare, no one ever dared to question his integrity, his moral courage, his 
purc-mindedness. A disinterested politician, for Peter Walter was a politician, and an ardent 
one, a man who gives the best years of his life to public business, without hope of office or 
other personal advantages, may be looked upon as a moral phenomenon. Air. Walter was one 
of those rare exceptions to the rule. He appeared like a meteor on the political sky of the 
city, and before his splendor all the lesser orbs paled into nothingness, metaphorically speaking. 
He was born in Pittsburgh, March 21st, ISSf). He received his rudimentary education at the 
public schools, and aflerivards attended one of Pittsburgh's collegiate institutions. He went to 
California while the gold fever was still raging there and remained twelve years, but it seems 
that he did not bring more of the yellow metal back with him than he could easily carry. In 
1868 he opened a drug store on the corner of Federal street and Montgomery avenue, in 
.\llegheny. Two years later he removed his business to the corner of Chestnut and Liberty 
streets. In 1886 he was a candidate for Mayor of Allegheny. He was urged to this by his 
friends, who were satisfied that no other man couhl stand up against him. Mr. Walter at first 
firmly declined the candidacy when it was offered to him, but being assured of the special 
support of those citizens who desired a clean, honest administration, he at last consented. His 
health had been failing for some time, and it appears that the worry and excitement unavoidable 
in a political campaign of which he was the central figure, proved too much for him. The 
ISIayoralty race had but fairly begun, when he was forced to withdraw by reason of his physical 
condition. He never was himself again afterwards. Though he lingered on for a few years, 
the death blow had been struck. He died on .■Vpril 4th, 1S89. His funeral was one of the most 
imposing pageants ever witnessed in the City of .Allegheny. 



155 



OIL ^ WELL X SUPPLY - CO., ^ LIMITED, 

91 & 92 WATER STREET, 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 

:\i.\Nri'ACTrKi-: ai,i, sri'i'i.iKS xkedkd i-"or 

OIL OR GAS WELLS. 



DRILLING TOOLS. 
CORDAGE. PIPE. TUBING. 



CATALOGUES 

and 

PRICE LISTS 

ON APPLICATION. 



DEMMIiER BROTHEHS, 

526 & 528 Smithfield Street, 

PITTSBURGH, PA. 




Head<|iiarters for House rurnishiiig Goods anil 
the best Novelties lor the kitchen. Manufacturers of 
Tin, Copper and Sheet Iron Ware, and Dealers in Tin- 
ners' Supplies. Agents for the Wonderful Pasteur 
Water Kilteis; the best Filters in the U. S. The Jewett 
and Gate City I-ilters. The celebrated Gem IceCreani 
Freezers and Perfection Meat Cutters, Curtain Stretch- 
ers, Washing Machines, Alaska Refrigerators, Bras,s 
Fenders and Fire Irons, Bird Caues, Jtc, itc. Gas 
Cooking and Heating Stoves. 




Jos. Home & Go.'s 

Perjr^ - s^VVeqoe - Stores. 

rPHB 

LeadingDrySoods House 

DIRECT IMPORTERS 

Fine SilkK, I>re.sM Ciiood!9, 

I^aoes and Triinniings, 

Suits, Csowns, 

Cloaks anti Jackets. 



[izaiiT 



Kui" 



ir)g ■ rtiurpiers : » 
I'iiiest Alaska Seal Skin Gannents, in the 
latest French shapes. 



JOS. HORNE A CO., 

609-621 Penn Ave., PITTSBURGH, PA. 



THE OLD RELIABLE 

ALLEGHENY 

Stehpi Dyeihe, Sgooriiii! 

AND 

lauhdry aioRK, 

Nos. 353 & 355 Beaver Ave. , 
ALLEGHENY, PA. 

RKCKIVINC, (IFKICKS:— 

443 Smithfield St., Pittsburgh, 

1913 Carson St., South Side, 

100 Federal St., Allegheny. 

Ladies' and (Cents' CJlothins Cleaned and Dved 
Fine Laces and Lace Cnrtains Refinished. Piano'and 
Table Covers Cleaned. Carpets. Blankets, etc.. Re- 
stored. .Shirts, Collars and Cuffs I.aundried equal 
to new. 

CHARLES PFEIFER. 

Tki.kphonks— l'ittsbiir<;l,, riH4; Allegheny, :llllll. 



ALEX. ROSS, 

IIIU8I11 House. 

SHEET MUSIC. MUSIC BOOKS. 

piano^: 



EVERETT, WEBER, 

I.A.ME;,S & HOLMvSTROM, 

HARVARD. 



WEAVER, 

SMITH AMERICAN, 

DVER & HTiaHES, 



.ALL KI-XDS 111- 



Oi^gan^. 



Musical Instruments. 
137 Federal Street, 

^^ ALLEGHENY, PA. 



D. LUTZ S SON, 

BREWERS. 



REED & KREPS, 



FINE EXPORT BEER. 



LION BREWERY, 

Cor. Vinial and Villa Sts. 

Allegheny Brewery, 

Cor. Chestnut and Spring Garden Sts., 
TELEPHONE 3002. ALLEGHENY. 




ANUFACTURERS OF 



STEAMBOAT BARROWS, 
RAILROAD BARROWS, 
GARDEN BARROWS, 
BRICK BARROWS, 

STONE BARROWS, 
STORE BARROWS, 

BOYS' BARROWS, 

COKE BARROWS, 

COAL BARROWS. 



Our Brewings are from the choicest Barleys and Hop> 
fully matured and palatable. 



Pine and Monongahela Oak LUMBER. 

FOOT OF MULBERRY STREET, 

ALLEGHENY, PA. 



8HEAFER I LLOYD, 

JEWELERS. 



SUCCESSORS TO WATTLES & SHEAFER. 



Mi ►III ►li 

VIv *1> ^IV 



DIAMONDS, 

^ WATCHES * * 

^ ^i? $:J ^!^ JEWELRY. 



Silverware, Cut Glass and Art Goods. 



Diamonds and Watches a Specialty. 

37-FIFTH AVENUE-37 

^PITTSBURGH, PA. 



THE BALTIMORE & OHIO R.R. 

Maintains a Complete Service of Vcstibuled Express Trains between 

New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, 
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Columbus, 

+ St. Louis and Chicago, 




EQUIPPED WITH 



Pullman L?ala6b Sleeping -(©ai^s, 



Running Though Without Change. 



j^j.i^ :b. &: c>. t:^i5^^i]vs. 



BETWEEN THE 



EAST AND WEST, RUN VIA WASHINGTON. 



Special Rates for Parties Numbering Ten or More, upon Application to Agents. 



211 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. 
41.5 Broadway, New York. 
Cor. 9th and Chestnut Sts., Philadelphia, Pa 
Cor. Baltimore & Calvert Sts., Baltimore, Md 
l;i.51 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D. C. 



Cor. Wood St. and Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. 
Cor. 4th and Vine Streets, Cincinnati, O. 
IMS Clark Street, Chicago, 111. 
10.5 North Broadway Street, St. Louis, Mo. 



E. D. SMITH, Division Passenger Agent, Pittsburgh, Pa. 



J. T. ODELL, CHAS. O. SCULL, 

General Manager, (;eneral Passenger AgDnt. 

+ + + liA-LTHMORE, »ir>. + -i- + 





// ?s both pleasant and instrtictive to contemplate the life of a 
self-7nade man, a man, who is under no obligations to cirawistances, 
but owns whatever success he may have achieved to his brains, his 
force of character and perseverance Mr. David Hollander, the well- 
ktiown Clothier, whose elegant and spacious emporium is located at 
I lo Ohio street, Allegheny, gives us such an opportunity. Twenty 
years ago, he started in business a few doors below the building lohich 
he now occupies and of which he is the owner. His capital was 
tzuenty dollars. It may be imagined that his store was not a pre- 
tentious one. But in the Business he invested something, which, in 
the end, is of more value than capital. It zuas energy, fair dealing, 
perseverance and polished maimers, the last of which qualities is by 
no means the least in itnportance to a business man. One by one the 
number of his patrons increased, and — 07ice a customer, always a 
customer, that was the keynote of Mr. Hollander s success. Slowly, 
step by step, never slipping back as so many do who over-reach them- 
selves, he climbed the ladder of success, and to-day his establishment 
will stand cotnparison with any first-class clothing store atid merchant 
tailoring business in the two cities. How firmly established Mr. 
Hollander's reputation is for excellent worktnanship in the tailoring 
business, is shown by the fact that he makes nearly all the uniforms 
for the meinbers of the Allegheny police force and fire department. 



WM. EBERHARDT, Prest. 
INO. N. STRAUB, Vice-PresL 



THEO. F. STRAUB, Supt. 



JNO. G. WALTHER, Sec'y. 
JOHX P. OBER, Treas. 




The Gberhardt & Qber greuiing Company, 

NO. 1 TROY HILL ROAD, ALLEGHENY CITY, PA. 

BREWERS OF THE CELEBRATED 



TELEPHONE C012. 



MAIL YOUR ORDERS. 



F. I^. <>l;i;U. I'lest. C. V. < IHF.K, 



F. L. OBER & BRO. 



Br6wiGo.,Liiiiiteil, 



BREWERS and BOTTLERS, 



14, 16, 18, 20 Vlnlal Street, 



ALLEGHENY CITY, PA. 




ONEOFTHELAND- 
MARKS: 

"HOLMES' BEST" 

WHISKEY. 



1858. 



vie 



1890. 




ETNAflROlSlfW^ORKS 

SPANG, CHALFANT & CO. 



MANUFACTURERS OF 



Wiouglil lioii Welded Tutes 

FOR 

BOILERS, GAS, STEAM AND WATER, 

Oil Well Tubing and Casing, Line Pipe 



AND DRIVE PIPK. 



R. O. HDDRESS: 



-t> PITTSBURGH, PA. 


JAMKS MeCrrCHKON, K. k- Kkami;k. 

President. Casliu i 
JcHN Thumi'Sux, a. H. Nkvix. 

Vice-President. A.sst. Cashiei. 


J, X. David.sii.v, President. A. <•. Camkk.i.n-, 
.\. .Alston, Vice-President. Cashier. 






THE 




First flatiooal U$ 

OF ALLEGHENY, PA. 


SecoQUllatiODalBaiiK 




OF ALLEGHENY, PA. 


Paid in Capital, - $350,000 




Surplus, - - - 150,000 




A General Banking Business Transacted. 






CAPITAL, - - $150,000 


ACCOUNTS SOLICITED. 


SURPLUS, - - 100,000 



8HEAFER X LLOYD, 

JEWELERS. 

SUCCESSORS TO WATTLES & SHEAFER. 

DIAMONDS, ^^ ^^ ^5 

^' m WATCHES ^ ^' 

^^ 
m ^^ «- ^ JEWELRY. 



Silverware, Cut Glass and Art Goods. 



Diamonds and Watches a Specialty. 

37-FIFTH AVENUE-37 

«<P1TTSBURGH, PA. 



